If you, or someone you love, is considering downsizing an empty nest, let me offer you some tips to navigate the journey.  

According to the Free Dictionary, downsizing is to live in a simpler way, especially by moving into a smaller residence.  Other definitions pertain to a company reducing its size of personnel, which explains why the word feels so negative or even downgrading.  

While downsizing makes sense financially, it can feel like loosing a loved one for women who spend their lives creating spaces for their families to grow and be. A house has walls, a home has a soul.  

The walls of a home witness the life of a family and preserve memories, and is the creative expression for the woman in a season well defined.  The thought of moving on to a new season in a new home evokes emotions of grief, fear of the unknown and uncertainty of identity.

Are you currently downsizing?   

If I have just described you, here are a few tips to help navigate the journey.

1. Allow yourself to grieve.  Please don’t minimize your feelings or put on a brave front.  That is not helpful.  If you feel the need to cry, cry!  You will realize that emotions loose their hold on you when you allow them.  
2. Allow yourself to dream of the future.  You can dream even when grief comes in waves.  Becoming future focused is vital.  Make a list of 25 new things you’ve always wanted to try, then set a date to make one of them happen.
3. Find someone to talk to.  More than likely you have someone in your circle of friends who has already experienced a downsize.  Or even better, schedule a consult with me!  I’ve helped several women process their feelings and create a path forward.

Downsizing care basket

If you have a friend who is currently in the process of packing up their memories for a simpler life, why not create a care basket for them as a show of support?  

I wondered what my friends on Facebook would include in a downsizing care basket.  Here are the wonderful suggestions….

Lots of tissues

Movie passes

Gift cards to restaurants

List of things to do within 50 miles

Places looking for volunteers

Wine – or as Jeff suggests a wine membership

Journal

Thank you card for the years they raised their family 

A list of podcasts

Walking shoes

Flower seeds

Hummingbird feeder

Something funny – laughter is good medicine!  

Best years ahead

What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t even happened yet.  ~Anne Frank

As always, my intention is to help you see that your best years are ahead!  I understand that in order to create your ideal days ahead, you may need to first walk through the real emotions associated with what is left behind.  

I also want you to know you are supported.  I’ve personally navigated a downsize several times in the last fifteen years, even a move from Ohio where all my family and friends were.  If you need help seeing a way forward, please schedule a consult with me.  You can definitely move past the emotions and create an exciting future.  

I’d love to hear your story.  Please leave comments where ever you find this article as a way to show support for those who are just starting their journey. 

Here’s to creating new spaces to hold our precious memories!

~Tiffany

And the birds fluttered around her writing “YES” in the sky