Christine: You are listening to the Your Empty Nest Coach podcast. Christine? Yes, Christine? You know, with the social distancing implemented due to COVID-19 that your listeners may not be in an empty nest right now, and they may be struggling with an unexpected full nest. … Well, here we are. What an adventure. First of all, I want all of you who have children in college to take a deep breath.
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Christine: You are listening to the Your Empty Nest Coach podcast. Christine? Yes, Christine? You know, with the social distancing implemented due to COVID-19 that your listeners may not be in an empty nest right now, and they may be struggling with an unexpected full nest. I mean, listen to that racket in the kitchen. You’re right about that. You are listening to the Not So Empty Nest podcast with Coach Christine. Is that better? I think at least for the near future, it might be a good call. Sounds like a plan.
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Well, here we are. What an adventure. First of all, I want all of you who have children in college to take a deep breath. This is a huge change all around, and as someone who works on a college campus, I would like to speak for all colleges and universities for a moment. I want you to know they are figuring this out as they go, too. This isn’t something that anyone has a procedure for, so just give them a little time to come up with the best solution for everyone. I see both sides of it, and trust me, they are working really hard, so given them a couple of days.
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Look, they know you have a million questions, and they are working to figure out all the answers, to all of the questions and deliver them to you in the best way possible, so be patient and give them a little bit of time. All right, so that’s my public service announcement for colleges and universities. Okay, second, I want you to remember PSPF going forward. It’s something I use for moms as they just enter the empty nest, and it works now, as well. The first P is for patience, for yourself. If you’re having trouble adjusting to extra humans in your house, that you weren’t expecting to be there, working from home, and more, it is time to be patient with yourself. The S is for self-kindness. Be kind to yourself. Watch your internal dialogue. Don’t bully yourself, if you wouldn’t say it to someone else, don’t say it to yourself. The second P is for partner-kindness. Show your partner, well, actually, all members of your family, your children who are now home, and even the pets, some extra kindness. Each and everyone of us is dealing with this in our own way, and there will be a lot of emotions, so provide them with a safe place to let them work through the emotions. The final letter F is for fun. Look, we are all in this together. Remember to have some fun as you create new routines for your family. Now, if you are remembering all these things already, it is a really good time to listen to my CEO of Your Life series, if you haven’t already. Because this, my friend, is giving us a tremendous opportunity to level up our Protectors.
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I’m going to be in your feed a bit more often with these daily episodes, where we’ll be checking in with others. We’ll discuss what they’re going through, tips, advice and more. If you would like to be part of an upcoming episode, message me, text me or email me, all contact information is in my show notes. DM me on Insta is always the best way to go. Watch your news intake, be very present. When you start to feel those emotions take over, and you’re feeling out of control, take a deep breath, think about where your Protector is in your life. Are they controlling everything, or do you have some control over them? Have you trained them well? Keep the things outside of your fence where they belong and choose the emotions that you want. All right, I’ll be back in your feed tomorrow with a special guest. Have a great day! Remember, this is quite an adventure and you are amazing! Chat soon!