If I Could Teach a Woman One Thing About Her Undercarriage Before 20

If I could teach every young woman one thing about her undercarriage before she turns 20, it would be this:

Your body is always communicating with you — your job is to listen.

Honestly, I’d love to hear the wisdom of this community on this one. Because so many of us, if we’re honest, weren’t really taught how to listen to our bodies. We were taught to push through, to perform, to look good, to achieve. But not to pause and pay attention.

When I look back at my late teens and early 20s, I wish I had known the importance of nutrition and sleep.

I was so focused on “calories in, calories out” — counting, restricting, and overworking my body — while surviving on wine at night and pots of coffee in the morning to keep me going through classes, jobs, and exams. What I didn’t realize was just how much both nutrition and sleep would shape not only my energy, but my hormones, cycles, mood, and long-term health.

I wish someone had told me that food has the ability to heal — and that it’s not about perfection or rules, but nourishment. I wish I had known that sleep isn’t something you earn after working hard enough — it’s a requirement for your hormonal health, fertility, and the way every system in your body functions.

I’d tell my 20-year-old self about insulin resistance — how what we eat and when we eat can affect our hormones, our energy, and even conditions like endometriosis and PCOS. I’d tell her that “balanced” doesn’t mean boring — it means choosing foods that include protein, healthy fats, and complex carbs that actually fuel you.

And most importantly, I’d tell her this:

Pain is never normal.

Cramps that make you miss school, exhaustion that feels unbearable, cycles that stop showing up — these aren’t just things to “deal with.” They’re signs that something deeper might be going on. I’d tell her to ask questions. And if she doesn’t get answers that feel right, to keep asking — to get a second, third, or even fourth opinion until someone listens.

I’d tell her to embrace her period — not dread it, not hide it, but to understand it. Because having a regular cycle means your body is functioning in harmony. And if it’s not, that’s something to explore, not to suppress with a quick prescription or a “just take birth control” answer.

If I could give one message to every woman before she turns 20, it’s that her undercarriage isn’t something to be embarrassed about — it’s a powerhouse of information, strength, and connection to her health.

So now, I’ll turn it to you:

If you could teach one thing to a young woman about her undercarriage before 20, what would you say?

Let’s build this wisdom together — woman to woman.