Why use a menstrual cycle tracker?
Have you noticed that there are days where everything feels overwhelming and emotional - you just need a good cry - or scream - or punching bag session?
And then there other days where you are almost superhuman - you're hella productive, social, oozing sensual or confident energy?
Or maybe days where taking a nap is the thing you want most in the world and others where you just want to clean everything or finally organize your files?
It can feel unstable to not know which version of you to expect each day. That's why I created this menstrual cycle tracking freebie. This tracker can help you begin to take out some of the guesswork so you can take advantage of what to expect.
My menstrual cycle patterns help me know what days are "creative" days that are perfect for writing or producing social media content. It lets me know what days a sad movie and chocolate will appease my soul. It helps me know when organizing my laptop files will feel doable rather than a chore - which is especially important since ADHD will have me staring at an unmotivating task for days without making a dent.
Menstrual cycle tracking might offer the same for you.
Who is this for?
Research on hormonal levels and their impact currently centers cis women experiencing a natural cycle which means that we know more about what to expect for this population but this leaves A LOT of people out. That's why this tracker lets you come up with your own knowledge and patterns based upon your body - whether or not that follows a specific existing pattern. This includes
Menstruators on hormonal birth control (like myself and others who have worked with me before!)
Trans femme folks who are on estrogen
Intersex folks whose bodies are producing varying amounts of estrogen, progesterone, and testesterone
and possibly former menstruators taking T (I don't have any information about this one since studies focus on T's impact on menstruation rather than the cycle itself)
and menstruators on natural cycles, too, because general patterns are not as useful as knowing your own body
What's in it?
Unlike most trackers, this isn't about your period - it's about the full cycle (where bleeding is day 1 of your cycle if you bleed). Inside you'll find
Page 1: An intro
Page 2: The four phases of the menstrual cycle
Page 3: How to use the tracker
Page 4: Examples of how to reply to the tracker columns
Page 5 & 6: 31 days worth of the tracker (which you can reuse)