Menopause at the Movies: The Batman Keeps a Journal
Kate Poux
I went to see The Batman Sunday with my 14-year-old daughter and her friends. I was reluctant to give away 3 hours of prime weekend sunshine and had major second thoughts. But I emerged 3 hours later elated, energized, affirmed. Batman totally gets me. He is racked with depression and anxiety, a social recluse, he works tirelessly to make life better and safer for the people of Gotham, hides in the shadows avoiding attention, his refrain is “Does any of this make any difference at all? Probably not.” AND he keeps a journal. Why does this all make me feel better? Because it makes me feel like I’m not alone, in fact, I’m in legendary company.
This all is amplified by the fact that it’s Robert Pattinson. When we came out of the batcave and into our sunset rehash of the movie, we began with the endlessly satisfying hotness of Robert Pattinson. I know not everyone feels this way, but for the 4 of us, he totally delivers. And then the next topic was his journal! The second most impressive thing about this batman, according to the teenagers (and me) was his journal practice. Re-reading this sounds a little ridiculous, but when I look back on my experience of menopause, the most impactful symptom or change for me has been chronic depression and anxiety that began in my early 40s.
I unsuccessfully sought medical help for years before dreaming up Put Some Claws in Your Pause with Laura as a way to cultivate rest, ritual and community for women living through menopause. And for me personally, the most important thing about this retreat project has been the journal practice I discovered through our research together. We came upon a writing meditation protocol called Proprioceptive Writing, and it has changed my life. When I am at a -3 on my Energy Meter, if I give myself 25 minutes of Proprio, permission to dig into the darkness and witness myself at my worst and ultimately my best, I come out at least a +1, and it lasts hours or days. Me and Batman are using the same tool for self care.
At the end of the movie, Catwoman is trying to talk Batman into leaving Gotham with her. She says nothing in Gotham is going to change, that eventually this work and these people are going to kill him. “You know it’s going to kill you, right?” Totally right. All this work is going to kill me, kill us. Partly because we are all going to die, maybe sooner than later by the time you reach menopause. Maybe hot flashes are sharp moments of that mortal realization. Maybe the work of trying to be "humans-for-good" is killing us because of the stress on our psyche and bodies. Maybe it’s killing us because to be fully authentic in menopause is to be counter cultural, and requires parts of our old selves to die. All good reasons to be writing in my journal. With Batman.
