PHILIPPA SCOTT

The perimenopause reckoning — Not another "manage your symptoms" talk. This is about the threshold moment when our biology demands we reckon with how we've been living. For women, it's often the first time the body refuses to cooperate with the narrative we've been sold: if you just try harder, sacrifice more, it'll work. That's the cultural lie that breaks us. And perimenopause won't let us pretend anymore.

Burnout isn't individual failure—it's systemic — We're told burnout is about poor boundaries or not self-caring hard enough. That's a lie that lets toxic cultures off the hook. The truth? Isolation, perfectionism, and unsafe work environments literally reshape our nervous systems and our families. When we understand it's cultural, not personal, everything shifts. Parents get angry at the right things. Leaders build different cultures.

The loneliness crisis is structural — We've built economies and cultures that reward self-sufficiency at the exact moment humans need connection most. Dual incomes. Scattered families. Neighbourhoods where no one knows each other. School systems that isolate parents. Then we're shocked when families fracture and kids can't regulate. This isn't about trying harder as individuals. It's about recognising what our culture demands of us, and what it costs.

Nervous system science meets social reality — Our bodies aren't broken. Our environments are. Understanding nervous system dysregulation without understanding why we're dysregulated keeps people stuck. The two have to go together.

The simple truth — Humans aren't wired for self-sufficiency. We're wired for interdependence. For belonging. For real community. Every piece of research, every culture that's thrived, confirms this. But we've built a system that punishes it. What happens when we see that clearly? We get angry. We get different. We rebuild.