Mittelschmerz

In the middle of your cycle, between two periods, a stabbing sensation announces itself. Sometimes just a brief pull, sometimes a dull ache that lasts for hours. Mittelschmerz — the pain around ovulation — is medically classified as harmless. A follicle ruptures, the egg is released, and the peritoneum can become mildly irritated in the process. So much for the explanation.

But why do you feel it? Most women don't notice ovulation at all. Your body, however, makes it an event that cannot be ignored. It takes a moment that stands for fertility, ripening, and feminine creative power — and overlays it with pain. As if the transition itself — from growing to releasing, from potential to possibility — were somehow a problem.

And that is precisely where the deeper question lies: what in you resists ripening?