Creating Midlife Calm: Coping Skills for Stress & Anxiety in Family, Work & Relationships Ep. 191 Empty Nest Messy Middle — Coping Skills to Support Your Kids and Reduce Midlife Anxiety and Stress
Do you feel like your nest is empty… but your kids still need you just as much?
You’re not alone — this “in-between” stage is one of the most emotionally confusing seasons of midlife.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Why the empty nest often feels more like a “messy middle” than a clean break.
- The Four D’s every parent needs to recognize — and how they shape your response.
- Practical coping skills to help you update your role, set boundaries, and anchor yourself in your own life.
Take 12 minutes to learn how to navigate the messy middle of parenting — you’re worth it.
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About the Host:
MJ Murray Vachon LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 48,000 hours of therapy sessions and 31 years of experience teaching her Mental Wellness curriculum, Inner Challenge. Four years ago she overcame her fear of technology to create a podcast that integrated her vast clinical experience and practical wisdom of cultivating mental wellness using the latest information from neuroscience. MJ was Social Worker of the Year in 2011 for Region 2/IN.
Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast designed to guide you through the challenges of midlife, tackling issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy, procrastination, and isolation, while offering strategies for improving relationships, family support, emotional wellbeing, mental wellness, and parenting, with a focus on mindfulness, stress management, coping skills, and personal growth to stop rumination, overthinking, and increase confidence through self-care, emotional healing, and mental health support.