This blog post started out with an entirely different life: 5 Things You Can Gain From Working With A Life Coach. But you know what? You can google that topic and find all kinds of posts to read on the internet. I’m not going to try to add anything to that list. Suffice it to say, now that I’m on my way to becoming a certified life coach, I would agree that there are some pretty great reasons why you might want to work with one.
What is harder to find on the internet is how your life is going to change now that you have a graduating kid. Heres some real talk about things you might notice:
There will be a LOT of quiet in your life. It’s a seriously noticeable change. If you still have other kids at home this obviously won’t be the case.
There is an going to be an uncomfortable empty space in your life. It may be the first time in 20 years or more that you’ve had that space to think about YOU and what your life looks like moving forward. It’s an unfamiliar feeling and all you want to do is fill it up with busyness so your life feels like what you’re used to.
You hear the term “empty nest” a lot, and people don’t use it like it’s a good thing. If you’re like me, you might have mixed feelings about that term. It sounds kind of dreadful. The somewhat surprising thing is that in spite of the fact that it will likely be a 20 year or so chunk of time in your life before you officially hit the retirement mark, you won’t find much information about planning for midlife. Newsflash! You can choose how you want your life to be.
If you’re a mom, even though you may be a few years away from graduating kids and experiencing their launch, it’s going to happen and you will be there before you’re ready. Plan for it. Now is the time to start thinking about what you want your Life Beyond Kids to look like.
You may have an incredibly supportive partner. That partner, however, has no point of reference for what you are experiencing. For that matter, you have no point of reference because this is all new territory for you. You just know this space is not sitting comfortably for you right now.
As you start to journey through this new territory, you may start thinking that it would be great to work with someone who has “lived “it”. Walked through it before you. You want to do more than survive this time – you want to thrive. You can.
Please know that you’re not excluded from this conversation if you don’t have a graduating kid! You may be approaching – or are in the middle of – your midlife years. It’s a time of huge transition and there is often some point where you literally wake up one morning and think “this is it?? This is all there is? This is what my life is going to look like until I retire? Something is missing and I don’t like how this feels.”
Words of wisdom: Plan for this time. Choose how you want your life to be. It can be an exciting time, so full of possibility! A midlife coach will bring tools to the process that help you envision the life you can create.This is my passion – it’s what drew me into the space of life coaching. If working with a coach is something you’re just beginning to explore, you’ll probably have a lot of questions. You’ll find a lot of information on this website – or – you can schedule a free 15 minute Let’s Chat call. The call will give us a chance to chat one-on-one with plenty of time for you to ask questions, without obligation. That’s a great place to start and I’d love to know more about you and how I can help!
Your biggest fan,
Jean
