Strategies to Avoid Empty Nest Syndrome with Samantha Lewis
Parents can sometimes get so wrapped up in caring for their children that they lose their own identity. This can become a problem once the children leave home, and the parent suffers from empty nest syndrome. My guest today is a life coach, corporate wellness practitioner, and facilitator of special programs to help us become happy or regain our happiness.
Samantha Lewis was so inspired from hearing a motivational speaker years ago, that she now travels the world coaching and helping others. While working with clients, she discovered that empty nest syndrome was a problem for many. She now works with clients and gives them the tools to discover what makes them happy and brings the fun and joy back into their lives. She also shares tools and questions to help improve communication and start living in the present.
Show Notes
- [04:53] Samantha was inspired by a motivational speaker that she heard years ago. She decided that she also wanted to do that.
- [06:08] Samantha became a single mom, and she wanted to add things to her life to be what she could for her children and still be there for herself.
- [07:25] She kept exploring what else was out there in life. She used self-help and healing to bring all she could to her children.
- [08:21] She searched, so she wouldn't be lost in being all she could for her children.
- [09:32] When she started coaching clients, she discovered parents started questioning what their lives were about when the kids started leaving. This was especially hard for people with only one child.
- [11:05] She started asking people questions, so that they could re-engage with who they were. They needed to see the change as an opportunity not a void.
- [12:10] Having something missing can affect a marriage.
- [13:24] Wives can ask husbands what is going on for them almost as if it's a reflection of what's going on for the wife.
- [15:41] Strategies to avoid empty nest syndrome.
- [16:00] Find a way to stay connected to things that you find fun. Start doing this right away and add one fun thing each day.
- [17:23] Be willing to ask for and receive help. Team up with other moms, so you don't have to do everything yourself.
- [19:16] By teaming up you find solutions that you wouldn't have thought of on your own.
- [24:15] What helps keep Samantha motivated is when she actually helps people, and they let her know how much she has changed their lives.
- [25:57] There is a difference between listening and active listening.
- [26:52] When Samantha begins to feel stress, she stops and asks herself, "what is really going on here and is it mine." She also takes walks in nature or plays with her cats. She also asks what she can do to change it.
- [30:22] Stress can be turned into energy to use for something positive.
- [32:25] Samantha doesn't really see her work as work. It nourishes her and it's fun.
- [34:16] The Being You Adventures are about having a space where people can come and get a sense of what being really is. It helps reconnect people with who they are and bring more of who they are into everything that they do.
- [38:02] Some of the challenges that Samantha encounters with her work are that people want to see something tangible. Because of this, she tries to be an example and role model.
- [39:06] Being happy is a choice. It's really about asking yourself is this fun for me, and if it's not fun, look for something that you can add to make it fun.
- [40:16] Live in the present not the past.
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