ISW Conversation: Empty Nest, Menopause, Changing Partnerships

Show notes:

Good friends and professional colleagues Jenni de Jong and Kim Painter have a conversation focusing on helping women navigate a time in their lives when multiple stress points converge at once: facing an empty nest as adult children begin to build their own lives while, at the same time, experiencing the onset of menopause and shifting relationship dynamics with their partner.

Topics that are addressed:

• Children leaving home is a major transition that isn’t always comfortable and can include grief and other emotions.

•  Women’s relationships with their adult children also are changing into one where the children have autonomy over their lives. To successfully help our children and ourselves reach this, women need to avoid “clinging” to their children.

• At the same time, women’s bodies are changing as they are moving through perimenopause or menopause. This transition also can make women feel off-balance as well.

• Empty nest also creates another layer of change in a woman’s relationship with her spouse/partner, which can cause strain. Menopause may also cause changes in the spouse/partner relationship.

• Self-care, reflection, research, communication, and spending time in a community with women can help with these transitions.

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Featured on This Podcast:

• Jenni de Jong

  • I Start Wondering columnist,

  • Licensed massage therapist

  • Craniosacral therapist Diplomat

  • Mother of 2 adult children

• Kim Painter

  • Licensed physical therapist

  • Licensed massage therapist

  • Craniosacral therapist Diplomat,

  • Mother of 4 adult children

Resources:

• Healing from the Core: https://healingfromthecore.com/healing-the-pelvic-core/

• Upledger Institute for information on CranioSacral Therapy and SomatoEmotional Release: https://www.upledger.com/therapies/

• I Start Wondering Conversation: The Importance of Being More Present as We Age

• The Presence Process by Michael Brown. (This is an affiliate link through Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores. All affiliate proceeds will be used to support I Start Wondering programming.)