Being happy during menopause; you are joking, right? The thought of smiling through hot flashes, sleepless nights, mood swings and all those other miserable symptoms seems absurd. Or is it? In the last of the steps in The Menopause Makeover Step Eight Creating Happiness is your chance to look for the positives in life. Authors Staness Jonekos and Dr. Wendy Klein believe that a healthy attitude towards menopause will help during ‘the change’ and beyond.

The Menopause Makeover Step Eight Creating Happiness How to be Happy During “The Change”
Happiness is an elusive feeling and is difficult to put into words. But you pretty much know when you are not happy. Chances are during menopause you believe that will all the changes, symptoms and age reminders there is little if anything to be happy about. Happiness is not just slapping on a smile and trying to push through your day in Pollyanna style. Happiness is a state of mind. We can actually decide whether we want to be happy or unhappy. Does it take work? Yes. Is it worth the effort? Absolutely!

All of the sections in The Menopause Makeover are designed for your eyes alone. What you write in the pages of your book is for you and no one else. This means you can do the tricky work of sorting out what changes you need to make during menopause. Your book becomes more than just a planner; it is your journal where you can be yourself.

How will Step Eight help me?
By the time you reach Step Eight in The Menopause Makeover you have a wealth of information and advice to put you on the right track to making changes in your life. The Menopause Makeover is designed to break old habits that are affecting your life and replacing those habits with newer and healthier ones. In Step Eight you pull everything together and determine whether you want to strive towards happiness. The happiness or unhappiness that you cultivate during menopause will continue to impact your life long after the symptoms have disappeared.

Whether dealing with menopause or undergoing any type of change, you need to put in a lot of effort to get where you want to go. Unfortunately there are no quick fixes or magic pills to do the work for you. Many women find it almost impossible to focus on themselves after years of caretaking and putting others first.

Challenges of Step Eight Creating Happiness
The biggest challenge is actually deciding to ‘be’ happy. Happiness is downright impossible when you are not feeling great or dealing with stress. You may have to face many additional changes that would make even Pollyanna run for cover:

*Facing the empty nest syndrome as your kids move out and on with their lives
*Kids who return to the family home as they sort out their lives
*Aging parents, their health issues, and their impending demise; this also moves you to the front of the line
*Changes in your relationships including spouse, family, friends
*Career challenges, bosses, co-workers
*Financial matters, household debt
*Outside forces beyond your control (the economy, the news, the environment, traffic, cell phones)

In Step Eight you get more than just grin and bear it advice. You have a safe place to write down the things you are happy and unhappy about and how to start working on those areas. Happiness and menopause do not come with instructions but The Menopause Makeover is a very welcome form of help and guidance.

Editor’s Note: It is interesting how many times we handle the big events in life and get through them while the little things are our biggest stressors! The last thing we want or need on top of everything else in menopause. Step eight is a reminder that while we cannot change what happens to us we can change how we react to situations.

**Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. provided this review copy of The Menopause Makeover to me completely free of charge.**

The Menopause Makeover, Staness Jonekos with Wendy Klein, M.D., Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., New York, 2010, 302 pp.

Please visit www.menopausemakeover.com