6 powerful strategies for dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Tania Venn, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

Before I share my powerful strategies for dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome, I’d like to establish a few truths about this challenge. First, Empty Nest Syndrome is not a mental disorder, but rather an aspect of life that some people go through. By my definition, it is “an experience characterized by feelings of intense sadness that parents feel when their children leave home for good and begin their independent lives.”

Empty Nest Syndrome feelings may seem like depression; however, studies show no increase in depression among women at this stage of life, according to Psychology Today, citing a recent review of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The common experience for people dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome is that the sadness diminishes over time. Individuals who have feelings of depression that persist or escalate, or who seek unhealthy behaviors such as overindulging in alcohol, may have an underlying issue that has been exacerbated by the transition of a child leaving home, and they should seek professional help.

Numerous factors can advance recovery from empty nest feelings and these are highly individualistic. It depends on a person’s current quality of life from which they draw meaning and purpose. These include other relationships, friendships, work, activities and hobbies, spirituality, self-reflection and self-work, life plans – travel, parties, events; and the like. Time is a mighty overarching force that supports getting over the sadness as well.

As a life coach who specializes in empty nest and beyond the nest coaching, and having gone through dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome myself, I am happy to share six powerful strategies for dealing with this phenomenon. I encourage you to read through these recommendations and write them on a sticky note to keep by close by over the next several days. This will keep them top of mind. Then you can journal about each of the five strategies. See it as the exploratory and preparatory due diligence required to unleash the power of these steps.

1. Acceptance
The very first step when dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome is to accept your feelings. Until you do, it’ll be impossible to take any meaningful action. So how do you accept the tears that fall when you look at your daughter’s graduation photo or walk by your son’s bedroom door? Here’s what you do:
- Let yourself cry and feel the pain
- Speak out loud about how you feel or write it down in a journal
- Never, ever, beat yourself up about your feelings
- Create affirmations of acceptance and repeat them mentally every time you feel sad
- Meditate on acceptance

This may seem like work, and you may tweak my suggestions to suit yourself. But don’t underestimate the incredible power of suggestion on your brain – in the form of affirmations – to effect positive change. The brain cannot tell the difference between the truth or a lie when we speak to it. The more we repeat an affirmation, the more our brains just work away at those synapses until a manifestation occurs. So keep at it!

2. Cultivate support
Cultivating support is essential. Not everyone will understand what you are going through, and many will just not relate and suggest you “snap out of it.” Even your partner may not feel the same way you do, although he/she may be the child’s other parent. So selecting the right people to support you is the way to go. This is typically the friend who is always on your side; the one who is always telling you to stop being too hard on yourself or encouraging you to do something because you deserve it. That’s the friend you need now.

When dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome, we often feel as though our well-being wells are tapped out. Our support networks can help fill the well back up. But be careful not to rely on your life partner for all of this replenishing. The majority of your support should come from others. This way your primary relationship in the home is not overwhelmed by the empty nest sadness.

A life coach can work magic in a short period because coaches are trained to guide clients in a solutions-focused way to achieve their desires. Our coaching expertise covers dealing with feelings and resolving the challenges empty nesters often face, such as identity crises and facing an uncertain future.

3. Focus on the future
Focus on the future with your children. Try this exercise. Remember before you had children, how you imagined what they would someday be like? When you were pregnant, do you recall wondering who your unborn child would look like? The first time you held your baby, remember peeking into the future to glimpse how her life might unfold, or when your three-year-old mischievously and frustratingly kept running and hiding you imagined how his impish behavior might manifest in a young man?

Back then the next 18 years seemed like an eternity, but here you are, and you can project new imaginings for the next 18 years or more. Imagine your child’s wedding day, the birth of a grandchild, or the time they’ll come to you for some life-changing guidance – because they will.

When my kids were babies I recall someone sharing the stages of parenting and how children need us through every stage, even if sometimes it seems that they don’t. I recall being mildly surprised when she continued past the young adult stage. Yes, your children will need you for many things in future. Imagine some of them now.

4. Keep in touch
This strategy is a very powerful one, but it’s dicey. While you are dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome – weeping at the silence in the house, chances are , no matter how close you are with your child, he/she is relishing some newfound independence. You want to stay in touch. You want to see your child. But you don’t want to be pushy. Here’s how to manage this delicate balance:
- Let your child know you are always there for him/her to talk to, visit, etc.
- Keep the lines of communication open through social networks and regular calls
- Conversations should be light and respectful of the youngster’s adulthood – let them mess up!
- Continue with family events – annual trips, holidays, traditions
- Let them see you getting on with your life!

Over time you’ll find that your relationships with kids will evolve into something slightly different and quite meaningful. No, they’re not your friend. You are always a parent. But there’s a fine sense of accomplishment that you feel, and it seeps into the newly-defined relationship.

5. Be Selfish
This is arguably the most powerful strategy when it comes to dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome because it’s about creating your new life, without children. And yes, if you start to think about the next chapter while you’re struggling to overcome the sadness, it will be time well spent. For the majority of people experiencing Empty Nest Syndrome, the sadness is temporary. Over weeks, perhaps months, our natural personal proclivities resurface as the changing environment becomes our new normal.

Planning for the future is essential. This is your me time – something you’d have done desperate, unmentionable things for back in your old life, right? So plan it! I realize that most people still have significant commitments, such as work, household, and caring for elderly parents. But the time once dedicated to child-rearing has opened up, and you need to use it for yourself.

My advice is to hire a coach to guide you through charting out the next stage; perhaps helping you to set some goals and holding you accountable to them. In any case, get started on your vision of the future. Now is the very best time to begin the self-reflection work on what you want out of the next three to five decades. Just this strategy could take up a weekend workshop, but allow me to simplify it into a few, helpful, do-this-now points:
- Take one thing you’ve always wanted to do and set the plan in motion to begin
- Write a journal entry about your ideal future life (anything goes; this is just for awareness)
- Carve out alone time every single day for an indulging activity – at least 30 minutes

These early steps will build the foundation upon which you can learn to truly be selfish (in a good sense) and feel great about your transition to being an empty nester.

6. Repair your relationships
As you begin to heal from the sadness of your empty nest, consider if your relationships with your children could be better. The empty nest is a portal phase to your next stage of life. To receive these exciting new experiences fully, you’ll want to have balance in your life. If you’re sad about your kids moving on now, you’ll be doubly sad if unresolved childhood resentments hamper your future get-togethers.

Your relationships with your children should be mutually fantastic. If they are not then make the changes necessary to improve them. Well, that is a tall order! some of you might say. Then for you, it’s even more important! Here’s why.

Childhood grievances often fester into much larger issues that can become areas of resentment and resistance as time passes. Parents and children both feel these concerns, but I find it shocking the number of people who say the problem is with their child; that he won’t listen or she isn’t open to discussing or we just keep butting heads. Not good enough! Someone needs to take the first step, and it may as well be the older, wiser, and hopefully more mature person in the partnership.

Remember, children’s brains do not fully develop until at least the mid-20’s, if not later, so they may not be able to initiate the mature decision to talk about family problems. You may have to take the high road and do what is necessary to mend your relationships with your kids, now. Consider this transition in your lives a new baseline from which to move forward, as adults in a respectful family relationship.

Dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome often begins long before children leave. In high school, most teens unconsciously start separating from their parents and seeking their way, through friendships and extra-familial pursuits. Often parents recognize this, and the sadness seeps in, along with the realization of how it might be one day when they are permanently gone. This was my experience, and you can read about it here.

I’ll leave you with a bonus strategy for dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome. It’s one I often use for a variety of challenges, as well as a daily awareness practice. Consider that there are two parts of your person. There is the physical you who shows up every day in front of people, carrying out tasks, making things happen, and living life. And then there is the essence of you; your true, inner core that is pure and real and what your physical body embraces, but doesn’t always align with. We often do not go about our daily activities as mindfully as we could. This isn’t always essential, but it can be very helpful during tough times.

Close your eyes and tune into your breath for just a count of ten. As you’re listening to your breath, imagine your core as a rod of steel. I’ve found that this connection to my inner “steel rod” core has been my savior through many challenges. It helps me to realize that I truly am – as we all are – alone in this journey. We are the only ones who can open our mouths and choose to utter certain words. Only we can engage our brains to take a concrete action. When I’m feeling lost, sad, or confused, I’ll often tune into this inner core and breathe, and usually, I can see a new way. And if there’s one certainty we coaches know, it’s that the answers are always inside of us.