Empty Nesting Season: Letting Go As You Redefine Parenthood
The summer of 2012. That’s when my only child left for college; so that’s the year I began dealing with empty nest and letting go. It was a difficult adjustment. What a difference the passage of time can make. Four years later, not long after my son had graduated from college –...
Seven Ways To Get Back To Being “In Love”
Falling in love can turn your world upside down. You feel as if each breath you take away from your new love is painful; and then everything feels right when you’re again together. But that feeling can fade. “I love her, but I’m not in love with her.” “I don’t remember when I...
When A Parent’s Unconditional Love Is Worn Away
Whenever I hear the term “unconditional love,” I think of the first moment I saw my infant child. That’s probably the purest love I’ve ever felt, or will ever feel. All he’d done so far was breathe and cry, and I loved him with a fierce intensity I...
How Making A Difference For Others… Makes A Difference In You
What I do for a living offers constant perspective; I hear every day about what can happen in people’s lives, both the good and the not-so good. I hear about tragedy, abuse, and I hear about tremendous courage people muster while facing it. Yet I also hear about the kindness of others: how a...
The Boundary-less Couple: Victims and Savers
Boundaries. What in the world does that word really mean when it comes to relationships? A boundary is a limit, an edge, where one thing stops and another begins. If you say, “I don’t have good boundaries,” what do you mean? Generally, it means that you allow other people to...
How To Not Be Victimized By Empty Nest. Letting Go With Intention.
My son is traveling at breakneck speed through the last semester of his college days.
Graduation is two weeks away.
He’s making decisions about his future — carving out a life for himself that will hopefully prove productive and fulfilling.
What I Most Want This Mother’s Day I Can Give To Myself
This is the third Mother’s Day in the era of Covid19. I’m not one to be concerned with receiving gifts, but I wondered what I might want to give myself… The first gift I thought of is actually far too dangerous, for it has to do with knowing when the light at the end of the...
282 SelfWork: Watching My Mother Disappear
This is a very personal episode of SelfWork, as I tell the story of my mother’s intense struggles with anxiety – and her turning to prescription drugs to help her cope. Sadly, doctors in the 1960’s brushed off women with “nerves” and handed out medications that were...
Five Ways to Make Sure Fairy Tale Relationships Don’t Become Nightmares
After a bad break-up or a divorce, you often look back and wonder, “What was I thinking? How did I ever think this was going to work out well?” Hindsight has long been 20-20. But what causes you to miss things while they are happening that in retrospect seem like they were a nightmare?...
When Are You Old? 22 Surprising Answers to That Question
I remember being chastised by my parents to “act my age.” What they probably meant was to stop talking, which I did a lot. So, aging is funny, isn’t it? When does the shift occur where it’s a good thing to not act your age so you’ll seem younger than you are? You can...
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