Most of us often joke about what our “empty nest” years will look like. Some of us say that we will convert our children’s room into a guest room or a home office or that we will have the time to do whatever we want to do.
However, when the time comes for our children to leave the house and the process of emptiness starts, we start to experience the feeling of abandonment because, over the years, our identity has been aligned with our roles as a parent and a spouse.
As with most transitions in life, an empty nest comes with its own benefits if we learn how to navigate through it, as it is a time when we should be open to personal discovery and growth. [Click to tweet]
This is the time to unravel “who we are” and not “who we were” as a mum/parent and partner.
To be able to go through this process very well it is very important that we do not rush into doing things. There are a few strategies that can help us live a purpose-driven life. Here are some of them:
- As parents, we have been everything to our children. It’s now the perfect time to shift our focus on ourselves. We can start this by sitting down and writing a list of our strengths, talents, and the things we enjoy doing.
- Transitioning to the next phase in life is a process. For us to enjoy the experience, we must be patient enough to let it unfold itself.
- For a lot of us, transitioning is a time of mixed feelings which range from fear, to anger, disappointment, and joy. It’s okay to experience any emotion but we should not get drowned by the feeling.
- This is the time to build a very strong social network. It is the time to reconnect with old and new friends and family to avoid loneliness and anxiety.
Most of us do not even realize that we are still beautiful even as we are aging because we have so much stuff going on in our minds. For us to live our best lives after our children have gone out of the house, we must be very patient and show kindness to ourselves and others around us.
