Learning Activity 2: Helping Linda Cope with the Empty Nest
Module 2: Coping Mechanisms
Estimated Time: 5 minutes
Purpose
In this activity, you will explore how three healthy coping strategies: social connection and support, creative activities, and cognitive reframing, can help a mother adjust to the empty nest transition.
Meet Linda
Linda’s youngest son recently left for college. For the first time in many years, her home feels unusually quiet.
She especially misses their conversations in the evenings. She has started turning down invitations from friends because she feels sad and believes they will not understand what she is going through.
Linda also used to enjoy painting, but she has stopped making time for it.
Lately, she often thinks, “My children don’t need me anymore. I don’t know what my purpose is now.”