If your child is heading for college this fall, you may experience the feelings of loss sometimes known as empty nest syndrome. Here are 10 tips for how to overcome empty nest syndrome.
1. Volunteer. Instead of moping around the house, look for volunteer opportunities in your community in areas of special interest to you. Libraries, hospitals, schools, homeless shelters and soup kitchens can always use an extra pair of hands, and helping others will get you out of the house and make you feel needed.
2. Take a class. If nothing else you will learn something new by taking a class, and it may help you feel closer to your child who is also spending time in the classroom.
3. Get some exercise. Take up biking or golf, join a yoga class or try tai chi. Regular exercise can make you feel better physically, boost your spirits, and it might even help you lose those extra pounds you’ve wanted to drop for the past year.
4. Plan a trip. Enjoy your new freedom by planning a dream vacation with your husband or, if that is too ambitious, by organizing a weekend getaway.
5. Get a pet. A pet won’t take the place of your child, but it will need your nurturing and attention, as well as providing companionship, affection and a sense of purpose.
6. Stay in touch with your child without being demanding or smothering. Use email to keep the lines of communication open and arrange for regular telephone calls.
7. Rekindle the romance in your relationship with your husband by spending more time together. Go out to the movies once a week, buy season tickets for a local theater company, join a couple’s golf league or just try some of the new restaurants in town that you haven’t had time to visit.
8. Get together with friends. Reconnect with friends that you haven’t been able to see as often as you’d like by planning regular lunches or dinners with them.
9. Be good to yourself. Buy yourself a new pair of shoes, get a new hairdo, take yourself to a movie, spend an afternoon being pampered at a local spa, or pamper yourself at home with a manicure, pedicure and facial, followed by a luxurious soak in a bubble bath.
10. Catch up on your reading and join a book club. Read those books that have been gathering dust on your night stand and join or start a book club, which can be a great way to meet new friends and stretch your horizons by reading new books.
Whatever you decide to do to deal with the blues of empty nest syndrome, remember that your feelings are normal and that they will pass, especially if you find ways to make your life interesting and productive.
Sources:
Lesley Alderman, parentingteens.about.com, Empty Nest Syndrome 6 Tips to Aid in Preventing or Overcoming Empty Nest Syndrome
Christine Webber, www.netdoctor.co.uk, Empty-nest syndrome
