A Huge Milestone and Opportunities to Practice

A little over a week ago, we left our daughter at Arizona State University to start her first year of college. We are now officially empty-nesters, and she is over 2,000 miles away. The next time we see her will be at Christmas.

I'm excited for her and this next phase of her life. She is very talented and motivated, and I know she will do great things. But I'm also experiencing waves of melancholy. This is a huge milestone in both of our lives! It warrants a surge of emotions.

I'm realizing that, like so many things, I need to find balance. Balance in keeping busy so I don't dwell on the fact that she's not home. Balance in taking time to remember so many fond memories of her growing up. Balance in reflecting on the next phase of our life as empty nesters and what that looks like. Balance thinking of what it means to be a parent and to let go. Balance pondering what really matters in life.

I don't want to suppress this deluge of important feelings, but I also don't want to get stuck in them. They can make it hard to get anything else done!! So, I'm working to find a balance of setting those thoughts and emotions aside and then allowing time to fully immerse myself in them.

This experience provides me with many opportunities to practice; to practice allowing my feelings, to practice managing my thoughts, to practice finding balance, and to practice letting go of things I can't control.

What opportunities for practicing has life been giving you recently?

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Tina Hallis, Ph.D., is a professional speaker and founder of The Positive Edge, a company dedicated to helping individuals and organizations increase their positivity to improve the quality of people’s work lives and the quality of company cultures.