This fall, I’ll be moving our oldest daughter into a house with five of her friends for her junior year of college, dropping our son off at a dorm for his freshman year, and helping our youngest pick out her outfit for the first day of middle school.

I hate school spirit week. There I said it.

I can’t look at the rolls of fat that have replaced my stomach, the stretch marks that have replaced smooth skin, varicose veins that look like a road map on my legs, and a chest that now sags after breastfeeding.

My biggest issue is what I call the comparison disease. I compare myself to everyone about everything, from money to looks. And now, it seems, I’m passing this disease along to my daughter.

No one, and I mean no one, prepared me for perimenopause. We hear plenty about puberty, childbirth, and menopause—but no one warns you about the hormonal roller coaster that hits in between.