25 Things to Keep You Inspired in Your Empty Nest Season

Feeling lost or unsure what to do now that the kids have moved out? In this podcast, we’re diving into 25 meaningful activities and goals for empty nesters that will help you stay busy, inspired, and fulfilled. Whether you're looking for fun hobbies, new adventures, or deeper purpose, this guide is packed with practical ideas to help you embrace this exciting new season of life.

💛 From learning how to paddleboard to joining a local club, starting a garden, or reigniting forgotten passions — you'll walk away with fresh motivation and a plan to make this chapter your best yet.

🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe for more support, encouragement, and inspiration during your empty nest journey.

📧 Contact Jamie at: emptynesteralife@gmail.com

👇 COMMENT below: Which idea are you most excited to try?

Disclaimer: This podcast is for education only and is not a replacement for therapy. I suggest you seek out the help of a trained professional for help with your specific situation if needed.

Transcript

[PODCAST TITLE] Ep 4. 25 Things to Keep You Inspired in Your Empty Nest Season

[INTRO] Welcome to the Empty Nest era, the podcast that helps you navigate life after the kids leave home. I'm Jamie Chin, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and mom to two amazing daughters in their twenties, and I'm here to walk alongside you as you rediscover yourself, reconnect with your partner, and redefine your relationship with your adult children. Let's begin this next chapter together. 

[EPISODE CONTENT]

Let's begin this next chapter together. In episode four today, I'm hoping to give you some concrete ideas on ways to fill your time and fill your cup. Now, I know these won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I hope they will spark some ideas that speak directly to you. You might even wanna write some of the ideas down that really resonate with you. Not that I'm suggesting you're forgetful, because I know I'm not. Okay. I'll stop talking. Wait. No, I'm gonna start talking. 

When the kids grow up and move out, it's normal to feel a mix of emotions, pride, sadness, relief, and sometimes a deep sense of now what? But here's the truth. Your life isn't over. It's just beginning a beautiful new season.

Today, I'm sharing 25 ways that you can keep yourself engaged, fulfilled, and genuinely excited about your days. And I've also decided to put these into five different categories, so let's dive in and check them out. First category is, I put these into something called. Try something new. Now, obviously, there's endless possibilities for this category, but I'm just gonna give you five to think about.

So these are some fresh starts for you. These are new experiences that can light up parts of you that have been quietly waiting their turn. The first one is learning something that's been on your mind, right? So one thing is learn to paddleboard. Yes, it's a balanced challenge, especially at our age, but it can also be pure joy on the water.

So if you live near anybody of water, be it a lake, a calm river. The ocean. Think about it. It's very good for your core as well, so you get some nice physical activity in. Second idea is taking a pottery or a painting class, let's get those creative juices flowing. Another is to, well, this is what I'm doing.

Start a YouTube channel or blog. Share your story. Share your tips or your empt nest journey. Others have the same or similar experiences as you, and people are always journeying for connection. Fourth, learn a new language. Download an app, or join a group. Bonus points if you plan to travel so you can actually practice that language.

I know Spanish is on my bucket list and I better make it a priority. I need to do that. Fifth for the try something new category is explore solo travel or group tours for adults that are 50 and over. A whole world is out there and it's just waiting for you. Check it out. All right. Let's now go to our category two, is that I'm calling this a focus on your health.

Your body has been carrying your family for years. Now's the time to care for it like never before. So here's five things you can do. You can try a new workout style. Here's five things you can do. You can try a new workout style, right? Another idea is meal planning with a healthy twist, find some joy in nourishing yourself with beautiful and healthy food.

Something else you could do is start a daily walking habit. It's great for mental health and it helps you feel grounded. Finally for this category is get an annual checkup and reconnect with your health goals. You deserve the same care that you always gave your family. Now's the time to prioritize yourself and really get scheduled.

All of those little things that you have been putting off for yourself. Set a goal train and then celebrate the strength. That you now have, you wanna keep up on your own health so that you can continue, to not just age gracefully, but to do it in the best health possible. All right. Let's look at category three of things you can do, and this is called connecting with others.

So connection is vital, especially during transitional seasons. Community brings energy and the support that we all need when we may be feeling down or lost or unsure of what our next steps might need to be. All right, five ideas here. You can join a local club or a meetup group. If you don't know about meetup.com, I really encourage you to check it out for your area.

It has all different types of interests on there, so through local club or meetup group, you can look for book clubs, hiking groups, or even something like a wine and paint night. That's always fun. Another idea to connect with others is that you can volunteer. Whether it's mentoring teens or helping out a food bank, your wisdom matters and is definitely needed.

Another idea of connection is hosting monthly dinners or brunches, reconnect with old friends or neighbors or even people that, you went to college with, people that you may have worked with before. That can be something that, it's so medicinal just to get together with friends and have those connection points.

This past weekend I just met up with a, a group of some of my best friends that are also therapists. We just had a great time. Whenever you're laughing, sharing stories, you know, we can't help but have that dopamine release that just feels so good and we carry that with us for a while. It's not, when it's just taking place, there's a carryover effect of that.

Another idea for connection is to take a dance class with your partner or a friend. It's definitely fun and you definitely will laugh a lot, especially if you're like me and have absolutely no coordination. Finally in this category, an idea for connection is to either get a pet or to foster one temporarily.

You know, there's just nothing like getting that unconditional love and also having a routine with your pet can easily lift your spirits, right? Animals, dogs need to be walked every day. That's good for the soul. They give you that unconditional love that honestly. It can be pretty hard to find in life and pets are just absolutely amazing for that.

Alright, let's move on to category four, which is reigniting passions. So remember those dreams that you put on hold while you were raising your kids, it's time to pick them back up. So let's look at five different ideas and again. You don't have to stick to these ? Your mind has limitless possibilities on what might be right for you.

But here's five ideas. One, write that book or memoir I. Even if it's just for you, even if you're don't plan on publishing it, even if it's just for your family to know more about your history or for you to go through the writing process and getting those feelings out. Say what you need to say, you have value.

Your words matter. Two, take music lessons, guitar, piano, singing. No one's too old to start. Three, start a garden, flowers, vegetables, herbs, watch things grow under your care. Again, this is something that I started doing. I started experimenting a little bit last summer and I am expanding this year. I just bought a raised garden bed and I'm doing some things from seeds, some things from transplant, and I don't know, I.

Definitely don't think I'm a person with a green thumb, but we're gonna see how it goes. I am, looking stuff up, trying to educate myself and hopefully every year I become more successful than the previous year. Okay. Other than starting a garden, you can also consider, DIY stuff or home decor project.

Turn your home into a space that reflects who you are now. Maybe there's rooms that, that you never got around to really updating, right? Maybe they're super out of date, or maybe they have a really young kid theme that, you could spend time thinking about, okay, what do I really want this to look like?

The Disneyland bathroom maybe needs to become a spa bathroom. So think about if that's something that you'd be interested in doing. And finally, the last idea for this category of reigniting passions is to take a course on something that you've always been curious about. Okay. Who knows what it could be. Psychology, astronomy, even coding or. Hello ai. Wow that's a whole area. And AI is pretty powerful. It's going to really revolutionize our lives in ways that we don't even know about yet. Our lives are gonna be look looking very differently, even five years from now. So anyway, take a course.

Think about something you've always been curious about or wanting to dive into and do it. Okay. Now for our last category, which is to invest in self-discovery, could probably make the argument that a lot of the things we've already talked about could be part of a self-discovery process too. But here are some ideas, and this is a time to not just do.

But also to be, to reflect and to learn who you are now. Okay, so here's five ideas. One is to start journaling. And this is up to you, but ideas are morning pages, right? Journaling, first thing in the morning to get your day started. A gratitude lists are really popular. And or just recording your thoughts, like something that you may have been feeling that day.

Two. Try meditation or breath work. Research is really coming, showing us the true power of meditation, and I always tell people, it doesn't mean you have to sit cross-legged for 30 minutes at a time saying, oh, okay, it can even be five minutes a day. That can calm your nervous system, and sometimes it can just be finding a simple place whether it's lying in bed, whether it's just sitting in a comfortable position on the couch where you close your eyes and you can even just focus on taking deep breaths right in.

And out. It can be very restorative to you and it leaves you feeling more grounded. This is really important if you lean towards having anxiety, meditation or breath work can be super powerful, so I highly encourage it. Third idea for investing in your own self-discovery is working with a coach or therapist.

If you're struggling during this time, explore your identity, explore your purpose, get some ideas about what your next chapter might look like, and sometimes this is nice to do with a supportive person. They might be able to give you some ideas or perspectives that you hadn't even thought of. Four, attend a personal growth retreat.

You can either go solo or maybe, enlist a friend to go with you, but these can be absolutely transformative experiences. And for information on this, I would suggest using Google. Our last idea, okay, this is our 25th idea, is to create a vision board and maybe focus on what do you want your next season to look and feel like.

So what does that look like for you and who knows? I know my vision board would have me producing amazing tomatoes and bell peppers. I know it would have me. Traveling to Europe it would have me starting to learn that Spanish language that I talked about or maybe taking beginning piano lessons.

I have a piano that sits in my living room that my girls never really took too. Despite having some lessons and. I have just kept it all these years because I know that it's on my bucket list and I keep thinking, okay, one of these days, one of these days, when I have that time and space, I'm gonna conquer it.

And even though I know I'm not musically inclined, this can be something that's just for me, something that I get pleasure out of doing. So there are so many possibilities out there. The possibilities are within you. Your life hasn't shrunk because your kids have moved out. It's actually expanded. You've raised a family.

Now it's time to raise your own joy, your curiosity, and your peace. I'd love to know which one of these spoke to you the most. Leave a comment below and let's support each other in this beautiful era of growth. 

[OUTRO] Thanks for joining me for this episode of The Empty Nest era. If today's conversation resonated with you, don't forget to follow, share, and leave a review. It helps other empty nesters find this supportive space. Until next time, take a deep breath. Trust your journey and remember. This is your time now.

[DISCLAIMER] Finally, I want to note that this podcast is for education only and is not a replacement for therapy. I suggest you seek out the help of a trained professional for help with your specific situation if needed. Thank you.