It turns out there are as many ways to do empty nesting as there are those of us navigating through it. Although we certainly knew this time was coming, it’s a chapter in our life that most of us didn’t anticipate finding so challenging. We’ve lived our entire lives with so many pre-created scripts (job descriptions) handed to us. Right now – this moment when you’re kids are leaving – is quite possibly the first time in your life where you’ve had the opportunity to actually put all that aside and write your own script with proactive and intentional choices. Write my OWN script? Wait! Where’s the “how-to” manual? Well, friend – you’re going to create it!
If you’re like me, you’ll reach out for some tools: books, podcasts, blogs, social media. I’ve found all of them helpful in my exploratory process, but so often they left me feeling like they weren’t quite the answer to filling my gaps because … they weren’t living my life. You’ll pick up nuggets from them, but even so, there were so many times I wished I had someone to have a real time conversation with. A conversation that was focused on my questions. Of course I had friends and family, but most of my friends weren’t at the empty nest stage of their lives, or didn’t have kids, or … were the very people who had handed me the scripts I now wanted some space from. Truthfully, I didn’t have a person in my life who was interested in supporting me in my exploration of what I wanted to DO with my life. Do you?
As you begin this adventure, start with tools that you connect with and incorporate any/all that you find helpful. Ultimately, however, it’s about finding your own way to live life to your fullest potential. Investing in yourself. Doing the work. Exploring what your happiest and healthiest self feels like. This is about YOU. Not somebody else. You have to find the place that makes you feel like you’re thriving. That’s the adventure. Be curious. Explore. Enjoy the work.
Your journey is your own. It will be different than mine. You’ll learn to listen, to pay attention to cues as they appear. You’ll start to get a sense of what kind of support you want most at different points along the way. You’ll evolve. It won’t be a straight line from point A to point B, and you’ll have some plot twists along the way. Just adjust course and keep going!
You’ll know when you’re ready to reach out for support and when that feels like the next best step for you. I’ll be ready too. Ready to walk beside you and help you in any way I can. If that time is now, start with a complimentary 30 minute Q&A call. It will give us a chance to talk and explore what’s next for you.
xx Jean
