Empty Nesters

Most or all of my generation have become empty nesters now.

After juggling life with 1,2 or more kids, life really feels funny with no daily responsibilities like dropping the kids to the bus stop, making breakfast as early 6 or 7 in the morning, packing lunch, homework drama, test/exam drama and more.

These responsibilities kept us busy for almost 19+ years. It was trying initially, managing two kids and their routines. After they grew up and were in second or third grade, life became much more easier. They were fun to hang out with and all their activities kept us engaged too. They had birthday parties, school functions like sports day, annual day, competitions, ethnic days and we were wound up buying things for the different events also.

We were constantly shopping for bags, textbooks, notebooks, uniforms, pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers and running to take printouts at the last minute. There never was a dull moment in our life and we were always running around to keep track of some deadline or the other. We loved the happy chaos and the steady routines. We made new parent friends through their friends and maybe that was the most exciting part!

When we became empty nesters after the kids left for further studies, we were suddenly exposed to a very calm and relaxed life. Though, it was nice initially to know that the kids had settled in and were doing whatever they wanted to do, we didnt know what to do with our time! 🙂

Was life really this calm ever was my first question? 🙂

Life being an empty nester:

Though we are empty nesters only recently, it is still odd to wake up and not know how to fill the time. Weekends are even more free now. Being a ‘work from home’ parent and writing full time/part time and as a freelancer for the past 14 years, I feel I need some more challenging roles now 🙂

It is quite an interesting experience to look for new places to visit and figure some sightseeing destinations. Did we really do this in the past, I wondered….:)

As much as it is still a new experience, we have found a new routine to our daily life. There is a lot of boredom in our daily life but there are a lot of phone calls too. Engineering students do not have an extremely demanding schedule and I can talk to my daughter very frequently 😉

Apart from that there are a few coping strategies. Finding a new hobby or class helps us find our lost self after parenthood had come along. In fact, we can also offer classes for a number of areas we are confident in. This will help us rebuild new frienships and relationships. If you have a full fledeged career, it is always a good idea to continue working till retirement age unless you are totally burnt out and exhausted.

I do enjoy the quiet life and relish the chaos once the kids step back in!

This post is for alphabet ‘E’ for BlogchatterA2Z by @blogchatter