There’s a moment that doesn’t get talked about enough.
The house gets quieter. The rhythm changes. The role you’ve lived inside for years begins to shift. And somewhere in the middle of loving your children and letting them go, a question quietly rises:
Who am I now?
My work is devoted to supporting women through this exact transition, the empty nest not as an ending, but as a powerful doorway into reinvention.
In my groups, we explore what it means to move into this stage with intention and not isolation. We talk honestly about the emotional landscape, grief, relief, disorientation, possibility, and begin to reconnect with parts of ourselves that may have been set aside for years.
This is not about moving on or filling time. It is about coming home to yourself.
Together, we look at:
What I see again and again is when women are given space, language, and community around this life transition, something opens, there is clarity. There is energy. There is a return to self that feels grounding and expansive.
If this speaks to you or someone around you, I would love for you to join us and share this with a friend, a sister, a colleague, or a community that could benefit from this support.
No one needs to travel this passage alone.
New groups will be forming. One of my favorite gatherings over the decade has been friends who offer their home for a light lunch and conversation with their friends who are sitting in the empty nest or on their way to this major life transition. I held it together at her dorm and then wept, leaning into the airplane window, flying 3,000 miles back home. If you would like me to tailor a presentation and Q and A, conversation, just email. One group presentation that I am thinking of now, was lawyers during their lunch time in their office staff room, who said, “I can’t believe I can’t handle this. I cry. I feel unmotivated. What is happening?”
This is a cycle of OPEN DOORS. I have never liked the term. EMPTY NEST.
Take care,
Natalie
I was in one of the happiest moments of my life, being a mother to my 18-month-old daughter. Everything CHANGED.
Illness doesn’t wait for the right time.
It interrupts. It rearranges. It asks more of you than you feel ready to give.
What I didn’t expect was how much it would affect not just my body, but my sense of self.
What No One Tells You
Illness is not only physical.
It brings fear, uncertainty, and a quiet grief for the life you were just living. It can feel disorienting—like you’ve been taken out of your own story.
And healing is not linear.
There are moments of strength, and moments that feel raw and overwhelming. Progress and setbacks. Hope and exhaustion—all existing at once.
What Helped
Not everything helped.
What mattered most was:
I began to understand that wellness isn’t about going back.
It’s about creating a new relationship with yourself.
What Changed
I didn’t come through this the same.
I became more aware, more attuned, and more honest about what matters. Illness has a way of stripping things down to what is essential.
I wouldn’t have chosen that path—but it shaped how I live and how I support others.
Why I Share This
Because so many people are moving through illness quietly, without the support they truly need.
If that’s you:
A Quiet Offering
This experience informs the work I do now—supporting individuals through illness, recovery, and meaningful life transitions.
If you’re navigating your own path back to wellness, or supporting others who are, I’d be glad to connect.
You can reach me directly at natalie@lifeintranstion.org to start a conversation.
Be Gentle With Yourself,
Natalie
You have asked me to speak a little about Life in Transition. I have lived a long list of unexpected changes. Just ask me and I am happy to share. natalie@lifeintransition.org
The space between the shock and the moving forward is where I have learned even more about myself. Last year, evacuating from The Palisades Fires of Los Angeles was terrifying and yes , traumatic.
I didn’t “NEED” it to grow, and yet I did. i have had enough unexpected changes, but you know how life goes… not always a choice.
I am here if you need help on your journey of change.
In my work with individuals, groups, and organizations, I focus on creating environments where people can move through change with greater clarity, connection, and coherence.
This includes:
These are not quick fixes.
They are spaces where people can pause, reflect, and re-orient—so that change becomes something they can engage with, rather than something they simply endure.
Let me know how I can be there for you. Add a comment or email me natalie@lifeintransition.org
Be gentle with yourself,
Natalie
Artemis returning from the Moon feels familiar and hopeful.
A leaving.
A becoming.
A returning.
I keep thinking about grandmothers—the wisdom that travels through us . How we go far out into experience, into discovery, into the unknown… and still, something in us is always called back home.
Maybe that’s what becoming a grandmother is too. Not just a role, but a remembering.. A return to what has always been there beneath everything.
Artemis comes home to Earth, and I think about all of us—women, grandmothers, daughters—moving in these cycles of departure and return. Of carrying light outward and bringing it back transformed.
I would love to have you join me at the Omega Institute, October 2–4, where we’ll be exploring the quiet power of grandmothers, our current stories of joy and challenges and the deeper cycles that shape our lives.
More info + registration: https://www.eomega.org
Natalie
Grandmothers hold a quiet, transformative power — one rooted not in achievement, but in presence. In the sacred sharing of Grandmother Moon circles, stories unfold, wisdom deepens, and women remember the profound influence they carry across generations.
This forthcoming article explores the emotional strength of grandmotherhood, the healing that happens when we gather in circle, and why the moments we share with our grandchildren become our truest legacy.
The full piece will be published this Spring in GRAND Magazine.
Your grandchildren begin to show you who they are becoming — full of ideas, stories, and independence. Your role moves from doing for them to listening to them. From leading the play to following their imagination.
The love doesn’t change — it deepens. You are no longer just holding them; you are witnessing them.
Natalie
I am so excited to invite you to join me at Omega Institute.
You have heard of a BABY MOON. Well, I thought, why not create one for grandmothers? I am a grandmother and have been working with grandparents across the country for years. We have gathered to explore both the joys and challenges of embracing this major life role in the family.
Do you want to know what I hear more than anything from grandparents? “Finally, I don’t feel alone with my story of grandparenting because I have heard yours.”
Whether you are a first-time grandmother or about to add another life to your family, I hope you join us. Go to Omega Institute Website to learn about the weekend of being with other grandmothers, what you will discover, and the takeaways from the weekend.
The workshop is called GRANDMOTHER MOON. https://www.eomega.org/workshops/grandmother-moon .
I am here if you have any questions or thoughts to share with me, natalie@lifeintransition.org
Grandparenting may be one of life’s most unexpected adventures.
I am honored to be at Omega Institute with you.
Reflect, connect, and discover this meaningful chapter in your life.
Natalie Caine, M.A. Life in Transition
It is hard to believe a year ago my neighborhood friends stood outside with me, chatting, “Is it time to pack up and leave? Did anyone get a notice to evacuate? Well, we didn’t wait. We hoped to caravan down the canyon. That didn’t happen. We thought we would be back in two days. We took little.
I drove down the canyon that many of you probably saw on the news. Palm branches falling from fire, burnt cars, and flames from homes. On Pacific Coast Highway, I saw the gigantic plume ahead of me. No cars in front of me. I couldn’t turn back. I had no idea what would be on the other side of the dark grey flames. I sang out loud, “Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down in a most delightful way.” I am a bit tearful now, remembering what I didn’t choose.
Then it got dark, and I was driving in 80-mile per hour winds. Hotels were booked. I checked into one and sat. The front desk’s lovely woman came over and checked me in.
The next day, I flew to Connecticut. Four different hotels and then four months in what I called my YELLOW ROOM in a friendly hotel. The staff became my new connections.
I found a rental and now live in Westport, CT.
The shock is over. Every day was a to do list to build a foundation in Westport and manage my Palisades home. It stands.
Today I watch a video of the rally in the Palisades, and I think of the song, “I RISE UP” Andra Day.
I didn’t choose the unexpected. It grew me. It changed me. I am grateful for those who showed up for me and gave me shoes and clothes in the winter at Westport and sat with me.
Here I am moving forward. I am more than OK. I have a new adventure and wellness that surprisingly walks with me. Grief, unpredictable. Love, always a choice. Beauty, where I am only asked to pause.
I am more than OK. I live.
I am wondering, what have you unexpectedly lived?
Take good care,
Natalie
PS: My background music as I write this note to you is, “WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE SWEET LOVE.” I choose that song forever.
Slip the memories inside like a card into an envelope.
Thank you, 2025, for my personal growth through the Palisades fires, for the love shared and received, and for the new adventures ahead.
As I step into 2026, living in this East Coast world of stunning beauty with endless roads to explore, may I know when to rise, when to rest, and when to trust life’s journey.
My daily companions remain the same. Adaptation and curiosity.
What about you? Can you believe the year you lived and who you’ve become?
Sometimes I feel tearful from the losses and the world’s heartbreaks.
Life remains a mystery to me. Here we go…. New Beginnings, don’t you love that?
We are here, together
Natalie
The past year has reshaped how I understand transitions, belonging, and resilience.
In 2026, I’m offering new experiences designed to support moments of change, happy and challenging, deepen connections across generations, and creating space for reflection, ritual, and meaning.
New offerings will be announced in 2026. If you would like early invitations and thoughtful updates, you are welcome to join my email list, natalie@lifeintransition.org.
Here we go into new possibilities and building your inner world that never leaves you.
Natalie
When Pacific Palisades was burning, I had no choice but to leave behind home, friends, work, and all the small comforts that make life feel steady.
What I didn’t know then was how much I’d learn about myself along the way.
Almost a year later, I feel awe—for the journey, the growth, and the unexpected beauty of starting again.
I’m safe. I’m happy. And yes, I’m actually liking this new adventure 3,000 miles from home.
Even if it’s 20 degrees and I’ve run out of salt melt.
If you have ever lived and are living unexpected changes, I’d love to hear about it.
Take care,
Natalie
By Tara Weiss
Jan. 28, 2024 9:00 am ET
Originally Published at WSJ.com
After years shepherding children from one minute to the next, moms and dads hire $250-an-hour counselors to help them learn to live on their own
Kenny Hayslett recalled bittersweet feelings when his oldest child left for college. But he didn’t expect the profound sadness when his middle child said goodbye last year.
“They all sting, but this one hurt,” the 56-year-old said.
This bird has flown.
Helicopter parents get accustomed to tracking their children’s every move via smartphone, keeping activities tightly scheduled, scrutinizing homework and grades, exchanging miles of texts. For a certain cohort of hands-on parents, getting their teens into college marks the finish line. Then comes the coup de grâce.
Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad! See you at Thanksgiving!
The kids are fine. It’s parents who need help. The exit of high-school seniors leaves many feeling like “they’re being fired from a job they’ve had for 18 years,” said Jason Ramsden. He has made a name for himself on TikTok as The Empty Nest Coach.
Empty-nest coaching is a growing livelihood—with training certification, support groups and $250-an-hour private-counseling sessions. Demand is driven by parents who feel an emotional and logistical vacuum after years of shepherding children from one moment to the next.
“Even though you know it’s coming to an end, it is such a shock,” said Ramsden, who ushered his last child out the door a little more than two years ago.
TikTok’s algorithm, sensing Hayslett’s pain when his second child left for college last year, served one of Ramsden’s empty-nester videos. Hayslett, of Clearwater, Fla., said he felt like “this dude is talking right to me. I can’t believe this is a thing.” He paid Ramsden $2,000 for weekly videoconferences over about three months before Camden left for college.
Like other things no longer taboo—from getting fired to not wearing pants—empty-nesters want to talk about their struggle.
Ramsden has drawn more than 50,000 subscribers to his TikTok account since becoming a certified coach in 2022. Elsewhere on the internet, the Facebook group Empty Nest Moms has more than 12,000 members seeking guidance and assurance from others in the same emptied boat. The Inspired Empty Nest, an online community started by empty-nester Bobbi Chegwyn, offers to connect local parents seeking to commiserate about the sudden silence at home.
Worried about missing family life, Hayslett switched careers and became a real-estate agent after the birth of his first child so he wouldn’t have to travel for work. Over the years, Hayslett coached flag football, helped with homework and treated each of his three children to one-on-one trips.
Hayslett was a pole vaulter in college and coached his second son, Camden, when the boy took up the sport in 7th grade. In high school, Hayslett volunteered to coach track. With his youngest child, Kate, a high-school senior, now on the launchpad, he plans to circle back to Ramsden.
“I’ll be looking him up again,” said Hayslett, “since we’re going through this again.” He and Kate took many trips to Manhattan, he said, visiting the American Girl store when she was a child and Broadway shows as she got older. Next fall, he and his wife will be true empty-nesters.
Executive and life coaching were popular specialties when Valorie Burton, CEO of the Coaching and Positive Psychology Institute in Atlanta, began in 2002. In past years, she said, coaching services have widened to people going through a divorce or career change. Training can last a weekend or as long as six months, teaching coaches to help clients set goals and carry them out.
Empty-nesters get plenty of unsolicited advice from friends and family: Get a job. Get a hobby. Get a life. Empty-nest coaches say such suggestions aren’t helpful first steps.
“They need to grieve,” said empty-nest coach Natalie Caine. She became a $250-an-hour certified coach in Los Angeles following her own entry into empty-nesthood 15 years ago. “I get asked all the time,” Caine said, “ ‘Do other parents feel like this?’ ”
Parents have always felt wistful when their children went off on their own. But those feelings seem amplified among moms and dads who devoted much of their time to shepherding children through sports, play dates, lessons, tutoring and the college applications.
Christine Oakfield, who has a podcast called Your Empty Nest Coach, said many of her clients have focused on raising their children “to a point where they have no idea who they are. Their whole identity is their kids.”
Camden Hayslett said he wasn’t surprised his father was sad about him leaving for college. The only time he ever saw him cry was when the family said goodbye to his older brother after they dropped him at school. What he didn’t see coming was his dad hiring an empty-nest coach.
Camden thinks it has helped. It doesn’t hurt that he talks with dad every day. “That’s something that makes him feel more in the loop,” he said.
Natalie Caine, M.A. natalie@lifeintransition.org
