parenting is easy (just kidding)
Hello, friend.
It’s back-to-school season. I’ve been hearing from a lot of newly-minted empty-nesters recently. They’ve dropped off freshmen, their precious kiddos. Waving goodbye to kids at the dorm is not easy, it brings up a flood of feels. But like any big juncture it’s an opportunity for reset and reflection. Not surprisingly, I suggest you crack a notebook.
Some journal prompts to help get you rolling:
+ The cocktail of emotions is real. Pride in a job well done, fear of loneliness, concerns for your child let loose, disbelief at how quickly this moment arrived, unsure of your worth / use now that you’re not as active a parent -- let it all out on the page. Name your feelings and start individuating the “bricks," rather than it feeling like a sprawling, heavy wall. Expressive writing is proven to assist emotional regulation and resilience.
+ Write a letter to your kiddo (whether you send it or not) to say what your heart needs to say. You don’t have to worry about incurring eighteen-year-old eye rolls in the page of your notebook. And maybe some version of this will end up in a letter / text / email to your offspring that creates meaning for you both, even if they don’t admit it until they’re thirty.
+ Change is the only constant. We know this. So write down how you will embrace the new start, how you want to define this chapter of your life. What dreams or interests got parked due to parenthood that now have some time to flourish? Get reintroduced to those parts of yourself.
You don’t have to be a parent to benefit from reflecting on the page. Let this be your reminder that a change of season is a good time for any of us to define how we want to spend our time, what our goals are, and name what’s most important to us in order to live from that place.
And speaking of end-of-camp blues, take some of summer’s delicious slowness with you into Fall and beyond by joining AllSwell’s digital Decelerate Series of guided journaling sessions (led by me), kicking off on Tuesday, September 17th. Let me know if you have any questions about this feel-good trio of hour-long interactive workshops. It’s our version of stocking up on school supplies for the year ahead, to set yourself up right.
In Swellness,
