WE RAISED OVER $700!!!!

I FEEL BLESSED!

Last Year

I AM LUCKY

Growing up I HATED getting my period! I remember the day when I walked home from school and I showed my mum the brown stained undies hoping it wasn't what I thought it was. She looked at me, smiled and said congratulations. I WANTED TO BE SICK! I was so angry, embarrassed and I cried, I did NOT want to have my period. I wasn't the first in my friendship group to get their period or the last, but we didn't really talk about it either. You might have told your bestie the day you had swimming sports to keep an eye out when you were getting in and out of the poo for traces of blood, but that was about it. I remember in the early days I even had my mum make a special pocket in my school dress to hide the pads for when I had to go to the toilet to change my pad. But it wasn't just a secret pocket, there was also a hanky that was sewn to carry the pad that then was hidden in my secret dress pocket. It was a WHOLE game hide and seek the pad!

In my later teens, us girls started to open up and talk about our periods not in depth, but spoke about brands, and whether we used tampons or pads, it was life changing when a friend told me about the tampons with applicators!!!! Yes, finally I could figure out how to use tampons without it hurting. But my teenage periods were HEAVY! I would wear a super tampon and pad and still have to change every hour, as it would be gushing through to my second pair or period undies. It was a talent having to find excuses to go to the toilet AGAIN in class without getting in trouble with teachers or your fellow peers being suspicious.

It really wasn't until my late 20s and 30s that me and my friends (women and men) were open about periods; the pain, the blood, the hormones, and now in my 40s I am starting to look at Peri-menopause and I have the mariner. 

The thing is, this whole traumatic time of having a menstrual cycle is nothing compared to having a period without having access to period products.  I am lucky because I have never gone without a pad and/or tampon during my cycle. Growing up with 2 sisters, the bathroom cupboard and toilets were filled with them, and in my adult life I have never had to choose between food and period products. I AM LUCKY!!!

So, this is why I am hosting a DigniTEA event to raise awareness and funds for Share The Dignity, an amazing cause for a female human needs.

No one should be denied the right to have access to sanitary items for their health, dignity and wellness.