Christine:   You’re listening to the Your Empty Nest Coach Podcast, episode number 2.  Is the Empty Nest real? This podcast is for you, a mother who years ago walked away from a career to raise your child.  Sure, you’ve been busy with volunteering, car pools, maybe part-time work and taking care of everyone. But your main gig, that’s been your child.  Now, that they are in their later years of high school, the empty nest looms ahead for you and it’s freaking you out. I’ve been there, and I get it.  Together, we’ll turn our freaking out energy into freaking awesome energy.

Hello, my empty nest friend.  I am super excited to bring you my next episode.  This is actually an early bonus episode to discuss is the empty nest real?  Meaning, is it a real thing? What will it mean for you? The great news that I have is that it can mean anything you want it to mean.  You can make it mean that you will be lonely. You can make it mean that you will find the new you. You can make it mean that you and your partner will discover that you don’t have anything in common.  Of course, these are all thoughts that you can choose to believe, just as easily as you can make it mean that you and your partner will discover everything that you do have in common. If it’s only one thing, you get to decide what that means to you.

Before I dive in, I have a story for you.  I used to be a balloon artist. I had purchased a balloon twisting kit one holiday and began to play with it.  I found that it fulfilled my creative outlet and it also, was a bit like a puzzle to figure out how much air each balloon needed to make the perfect creation.  I did this for a bit, and within my family, I was kind of anomaly. Did you see what Christine made today? All from a balloon kit. She’s playing with those balloons again.  She’s funny. Oh, that’s cute. Then I discovered that there was an online community of balloon artists. I went from being the only person I knew learning how to twist balloons, to being one of many who all experienced the same thrill, the same frustrations and more.  A bond. We all had it. It felt good to know other people had trouble learning how to break a balloon with their hands. That was a huge win when I figured that one out. It felt good knowing that other humans out there received strange looks for their hobby, too.

Then, I found online lessons, DVDs, and learned from some of the most amazing balloon artists.  I even went to multiple conventions. The topic? Yes, balloon artistry. I went from thinking this is a fun hobby to whoa, I can do that?  Inspired. There is so much power in being inspired. There’s so much power in knowing you aren’t the only one experiencing whatever it is that you’re experiencing.

I know.  At this point, you’re wondering what’s my point?  Right? Let’s put a pin in my balloon journey. I guess that would pop it, but let’s hold onto it and look at is the empty nest a real thing?  I did a quick Google definition search for empty nest. Google came back with noun, a household consisting only of a parent or parents, whose children have grown up and left home.  The example given was her only daughter is about to go to college and she is dreading the empty nest. Are you kidding me? Did Google just call out Coach Christine of two years ago?  It sure feels like it, because that was totally me.

I did another search on the empty nest and was brought to an article on Psychology Today Online, about the empty nest.  I have a link to this entry on my podcast forum on my website.  I would like to share with you some of what’s mentioned in the Psychology Today definition or post – I’m not sure what we’ll call that – titled “Empty Nest Syndrome.”  The article states that empty nest syndrome is not a clinical diagnosis. That being said, it does describe a period of time where many humans experience feelings of loneliness or loss.  In the article, it also says that empty nest refers to depression, sadness, and a grief experienced by parents and caregivers during this specific transition. While it is more likely to affect women then men, men are not immune to these feelings during the empty nest transition.  The post also shares that some ways to combat empty nest syndrome is to discuss your feelings, find social support and work on self-care.

I can’t tell you how excited I was when I read this.  As this is what my podcast and my programs are all about.  Before even reading this, it was my firm belief that if you are able to learn the tools that I have in this program before your child heads off to school, you will be in great shape for the transition ahead, but so will your child, so will your partner and everyone else around you.  There it is. Everything I’ve been my clients. It’s right there, in print, in this article. I’m taking it as affirmation that I’m on the right track. You can take it however you want.

Interestingly enough, the same Psychology Today article states that research has been shown that women have no increase in depressive illness in this stage of life.  I’ll be honest, I paused a bit after reading that. I wasn’t quite sure about it. Thinking about it, I believe the point being is that clinical depression is clinical depression, empty nest or no empty nest.  Which leads me to put out there, that if you are experiencing clinical depression, please speak to your medical provider about that. Clinical depression is something that could be helped by medication and medical therapies.  With that side note out of the way, are you ready to dive in and get started? Because I totally am. I personally can attest to the fact that having support, having a plan on how to proceed, and getting ahead of this transition will help your life.  My clients say the same thing.

I’m super excited to offer free support around this podcast on my website.  All you need to do is click on the Empty Nest Flock Community link on my website.  My website is youremptynestcoach.com and register for an account there. In this Nestling Support Group we will discuss the questions I ask in each podcast episode.  Just by being there, you will be reminded that you are not alone in your journey ahead. This is free, just like this podcast. I hope you take advantage of it.

Remember my story of finding my balloon artist peeps?  I have amazing memories from every bit of energy I spent with my balloon artist friends.  I no longer am in the balloon business for health reasons, but I’m super excited that many of the business skills I learned then, I can use now.  I really needed it at that time in my life. I will post a few pictures of my balloon artist days in the Empty Nest Flock support forum for your entertainment.  

This is my personal invitation to you, to meet others who aren’t only seeing the empty nest ahead, but they want the years ahead to be their best yet. They see incredible futures ahead for themselves, or they don’t yet, but they want to, and they want to do the same for everyone else they meet.  Come on over, youremptynestcoach.com/community. I can’t wait to see you there. The questions we will discuss this week will be:

1) Have you experienced what I did with balloon twisting community, in your life and what was the area?

2) Do you have the support you need for the transition ahead?  

With this important episode and invitation complete, my next episode will jump into thoughts. I will be uploading that episode on Friday, which will be my weekly podcast release date going forward. Chat with you next time, my amazing empty nest friend.