Outsmart Yourself – Empty Nest Survival

One of the problems with the empty nest is that overwhelming feeling of “my important job is over”.  You have been so focused on being a mom and doing all the “mom things” that you all of a sudden have this overwhelming feeling of “what am I suppose to do now?”

At least, I know I did.

Even though hubby and I had planned and talked about that I would go back to work I still found myself wondering a very important question…..WHO am I now that I don’t need to be “Mom” 24/7 ?

I really didn’t know what I liked any more.  Some of the empty nest help blogs had ideas such as get started with a hobby or do some volunteer work.  Those were so vague to me.  All my free time had been devoted to family time activities – I didn’t know what I liked.

I’m guessing that lots of moms face the same questions.  A tool I found to get into my noggin and figure out what I enjoyed was to just start to write in a  journal every day.  Since I already knew that I enjoyed “creativity” I purchased a book called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.   An online friend and I started working through the book together.  At first I had a hard time because I thought “Art” was only talking about drawing or  painting or such.  But, “Art” is creativity, and the book was just a way to really start diving back into myself and explore ME .

I had to outsmart my own brain and get over some hurdles and the book and it’s activities were a great source to start me on that journey.  By the end, I realized my passion for writing and words was something that had to be a part of my life every day!

I truly believe that a firm pathway to empty nest survival is working past your sadness and starting to concentrate on yourself.  Besides, Mom, you deserve it!  You raised kids that have gone out into the world and are making it on their own.  That is a “Job Well Done!”.