Do you ever feel like you just have space in your life for more? There have been some life changes going on in my world that have made me feel a little different lately!
My daughter graduated from High School this spring and is going away to college in the very near future, she is the youngest of our children. Will we be empty nesters? Not quite! Our oldest has an awesome job, but still lives at home, which is perfectly fine. Do I feel like an empty nester? Almost… Even though our oldest is at home, he has a life of his own and does his own thing. Then comes the question, what do I do with my time? I have found myself kind of walking around aimlessly or twiddling my thumbs during the times when I used to be cooking dinner, cleaning up, or when I was busy with other activities. I feel like I need a new hobby or something else to just take up some spare time versus plopping down on the couch and binging Netflix!
Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do after your kids left home? Did you find a new hobby with your spouse, take something up just for you? I truly have been brainstorming and I’m not sure what the answer is!
One thing that I’m hoping helps me feel accomplished is a change of pace with my full-time job. I have been so very comfortable in my job for so, so long. I’m good at what I do, it’s convenient, I make decent money, so why rock the boat- right? Well, I have been feeling SO unaccomplished, so stagnant, and just not excited about work. My thought is, if I must work- I may as well have a fire in me about what I’m doing every day! Well- that fire is gone, and in fact, I have more annoyance in a day about what I need to do, than anything else. I’m well overdue for a change and truly feel I could be in a sense, “burnt out’’. All in all, I think it’s time to find a change of pace.
During my daughter’s graduation, one of the speeches that was given to address the Senior class talked about change, fear of change, and fear of the unknown. The same fear that I feel every time I think about making a big change, such as changing jobs. As I sat there listening to this amazing speech and how true it is for my daughter to be fearless because change opens new doors, I thought- how can I even be advocating for this, if I can’t do it myself? I was a hypocrite! It was ridiculous that I’m 42 years old, unable to bring myself to move forward in what I want. In the meantime, there I sat, listening to high school graduates being lectured to do what I was too scared to do. Well, at that moment, I told myself, this is it- I’m done being scared!
Low and behold, since I started writing this post, I did it! I applied, interviewed, and got hired into a new position in my company. It felt seamless and right! My job is now something I anticipate being rewarding, something to revive me, and something that will offer the chance to learn new things. I think this is a great start of feeling more fulfilled, BUT, this is only a small portion of my life. I’m looking for suggestions on what others have done as their lives have changed in this way. Please comment and share your experiences, I’m interested to know!!
