Ever felt like a confident, glowing goddess one week and an emotionally unstable Victorian ghost the next? Congratulations, you’ve entered your luteal phase. It’s the rapid emotional decline after the peak of your follicular hot girl era. It’s the pre-period zone where your serotonin dips, you’re the opposite of demure, everyone gives you the ick, your patience is microscopic, and you’re one wrong text away from going nuclear on the group chat.
If you’re a PCOS girlie like me, you’re probably spending half your time guessing whether it’s your luteal phase or you’re simply entering your villain era for no reason. The good news? The luteal phase doesn’t have to suck. It’s actually your most honest, emotionally attuned, BS-detecting 10-ish days. Your body knows what’s not serving you before your brain can catch up. So, instead of fighting it, here are a few (non-scientific, unproven, but thoroughly tested) ways to lean in with grace:
1. Cry. A lot.
Tears = spiritual detox. The luteal phase doesn’t nudge your emotions to the surface, it launches them out of a cannon. It’s like your body’s emotional audit. If you’re the daily-affirmation sort, here’s one from my breathwork teacher: “You’re not spiralling, you’re shedding.”
Here are some location recommendations based on your crying archetype:
*Sources: Me, my three whole friends, and eight other women who overshared in my DMs for the greater good.
2. Meditate
This is the time to slow down and have the biggest epiphanies. You get to alchemise what’s coming up. Think of it as free therapy—reflect, reflect, reflect! Pull a tarot card, take yourself on a date, do some breath work, sweat it out in a sauna, check your Costar app every five minutes, stare at the ceiling and wait for clarity.
3. Treat yourself like a Victorian woman
Dramatically plop yourself on a daybed. Ask to be fanned. Wear a robe. Cancel plans. Watch Love Island horizontally. Try that weird food combo you saw online to find out if it was rage-bait. You’re not being lazy—you’re preserving your essence.
4. Rage, but make it productive
Everyone’s annoying, and that’s valid. Channel the fury into something you won’t regret. For example:
- Start a petition to stop Netflix from cancelling your favourite shows
- Use this downtime to workshop creative comebacks so you can finally win that argument from 2015 in your head. Nothing better than haunting your enemies with delayed wit. Example: “You look like you’re AI generated.”
- Make a PowerPoint titled ‘Mistakes were made (by others)’ and present it to no one
- Make a donation to a deeply inconvenient charity in someone’s name. Bonus points if the thank-you email is impossible to unsubscribe from
Luteal justice served.
5. Journal or jail
Feel the need to humble someone? Journal. Want to post cryptic Instagram stories? Journal. Your journal can take it. The group chat cannot.
