Thank goodness I found this website. I’m doing OK with my son off to college. I am not OK with figuring out what to do that will really make me satisfied.
I am in a top career world. Yes, I have made a difference by being in this career.
I want to leave the stress of it and the boredom. I want to teach and only work part time.
I just met with a financial advisor. It was worth the money. I say I want to teach but not sure at this stage of life if I want to go back to school. I really want to do my art.
Do you go through these uncertainties because of your age and money?
What did you change when you were an empty nester besides for their room?
Charlotte
Join Natalie at Tecate, Baja California, Mexico, May 14-21 and October 29 – November 5, 2011 – RANCHO LA PUERTA RESORT AND SPA, the world-renowned fitness resort and spa in Baja California, where she will be returning to teach for a week LIFE IN TRANSITION, WHAT’S NEXT?
Contact for further information,
U.S. Reservations Office:
RANCHO LA PUERTA FITNESS RESORT & SPA
11696 Sorrento Valley Road, Suite 203
San Diego, CA 92121
T: 800.443.7565, 858.764.5500
F: 858.764.5560
E: reservations@rancholapuerta.com
www.rancholapuerta.com
A Partial list of Awards for Rancho La Puerta:
Travel + Leisure
– 2010 “World’s Best Destination Spa”
– 2009 “Top 10 Destination Spas”
Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Polls 2010
– “World Savers Awards” honorable mention Spa Magazine’s Silver Sage Readers’ Choice Awards
– 2010 Favorite Destination Spa – International
– Favorite Eco/Green Spa
Natalie knows transitions pull you into a gift and a curse. What gets birthed is worth the grieving and the confusion.
5 Thoughts for Transition
1. What thoughts and feelings are you having today in this unknown place?
2. Do you need a tweak, an overhaul, or a goodbye?
3. What support and resources do you think you need?
4. How do you develop a healthy view of what’s next for you?
5. What do you long for that creates something new and authentic at this cycle of life?
Each of us uniquely journey’s through happy and sad transitions: empty nest, divorce, illness, marriage, college, new career, re-locating, blending families, care-taking, grand parenting, death, and new interests.
What do you know about the way you make changes? Whether by choice or circumstances, all of us have stood in the unknown of not being where we were and not yet, where we will be.
Our culture does not teach you how to view, approach, and execute an authentic thread to follow. Natalie has been featured in TIME MAGAZINE, NY TIMES, LIFETIME RADIO FOR WOMEN, LA TIMES, USA TODAY, WASHINGTON POST, & BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS. She will guide you with her humor, compassion, and enthusiastic style. She offers concrete tips and exercises as she listens and implements with you.
A LITTLE ABOUT NATALIE
Her passion grew from a life of transitions she has lived: leaving her dream college year as a Freshman, because her parents needed her to move West from East, Master’s degree in Speech Therapy, marriage, bed rest for five months while pregnant, mother to beautiful, healthy daughter, Natalie’s sudden life threatening illness when her baby was just eighteen months old, forced her to leave her child for surgeries and stays in and out of intensive care for weeks and years of illness back and forth from home to hospital, divorce, healing to wellness, re-locating, re-marrying, re-inventing her 30 year career to launch Empty Nest Support Services, care-taking her parents with kidney and cancer illness, , empty nest, as her only child moved East from West for college, suicide of her best friend, death of her parents, travel solo for work and pleasure.
Born with the middle name, HOPE, she relied on it. When that wasn’t enough to pull herself up after the suicide of her best friend, who left three boys and a husband, who are her brother and nephews, she dug deeper , looked back at her life and forward, realizing compassion and curiosity were her best daily tools, not guarantees.
She can’t help but carry humor and hope in her heart. When her house emptied of her daughter’s life and friends, and she sat in the new quiet and unknown, she birthed her writer, where she writes for her website and parenting and boomer monthly column websites. She travels the country teaching and is grateful for the new friendships and learning. More free time from being an empty nester opened another unknown interest, photography. She uses her photos for all her blogs, for creativity, and has sold photos in her city of Los Angeles.
Who would have thought the grief of shifting her role as a parent, would have birthed so many new interests and friendships? Travel kicked in, her organic garden expanded, and she has the joy of welcoming home her daughter, as well as, visiting her in San Francisco where they hike, eat out, hear music, and visit with other friends.
“And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anais Nin
Call Natalie for more information and visit her website that includes, an active message board for ongoing support, blogs, stories, live audio conversations, FAQ video, tips, testimonials, schedule, and more.
Wishing you the support to go past your fears, confusions, and dive into newness
Natalie Caine M.A.
Empty Nest Support Services
(800) 446-3310 or (818) 763-0188
On the web www.emptynestsupport.com
Featured in TIME MAGAZINE, NY TIMES, LIFETIME RADIO FOR WOMEN, LA TIMES, USA TODAY, WASHINGTON POST, BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
Change is inevitable. Get Ready. Get Support. Life transitions need a hand to hold.
– Private Telephone Consultations
– Speaking engagements
– Online classes
– Support groups
– Workshops
– Free active message board – connect with others
– Story of the Month
– Facebook, Linked In, Twitter
– Los Angeles, CA
Parents, Boomers, Empty Nesters, and Young adults have asked me about Red Mountain Spa, Utah.
Destination and resort spa in Southern Utah, hiking, wellness, Spa, red rocks, outdoors http://www.RedMountainSpa.com where I will be teaching LIFE IN TRANSITION, WHAT’S NEXT, April 9th-16th. I am also offering private sessions for the week so you can go deeper with your needs. Below is an overview of the workshop:
From the Inside Out
It’s time for you to gather input from inside yourself. Natalie will guide you to make a place of well-being no matter what is happening in your outer world. You will discover more about who you are and who you aren’t, and from there, learn what resources you need to pull yourself up towards a step.
Possibilities
Natalie will help you discover what will foster an opening of possibilities and creativity. The evening is experiential, which will include, making a prayer stick for you to take home.
Your Gift
Natalie will gift each of you and teach you how you can use the gift at home. What will you vow to never do again and what will you put your toe in the water towards your new beginning? Life has become more complex. You need to make time to re-focus on self and to practice staying open to possibilities.
About Natalie
Natalie shares wisdom, tips and comfort during her workshops to help people deal with happy and challenging life transitions. Her style is unique with humor, focus and openness, and her knowledge comes from many life transitions including a life-threatening illness, divorce, relocation, empty nester and re-inventing her career. Natalie knows how to grieve and begin again with realism, integrating the gifts and curses of change and loss. She discovered the key is to know who you are and who you aren’t.
Natalie is the founder of Empty Nest Support Services, which helps people through the joys and challenges of a new life chapter, whether by choice or circumstances of divorce, retirement, re-location, blended families, illness, healing, new career, entering the work world, leadership or mentoring. She regularly writes for baby boomer and parenting websites and has been featured in Time Magazine, New York Times, Lifetime Radio for Women, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and Better Homes & Gardens.
A single mother called, “Do you think I can meet a guy there because I won’t just bring my sweats?” Bring your inner and outer beauty. I know of two people who met at a retreat and then married, I shared with her that good news.
Happy story – A friend of mine is attending a wedding at Zion Park which is 45 minutes from the resort. I had no idea until she called me last week that both of us will be there at the same time. I will be hiking in Zion as part of the week get away. We are so excited. She travels from New York and I from Los Angeles. Don’t you just love those surprises? Who knows what surprise is blooming for you this Spring.
When I present at my workshop, I leave with continued friendships where we plan to meet there again. I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach what I love in such beauty and health.
I hope you make time to refresh, learn, and meet others. Visit their website to see what they offer besides for my week workshop http://www.RedMountainSpa.com
Happy Spring,
natalie@emptynestsupport.com www.emptynestsupport.com
800-446-3310 Pacific Time
Invite her to speak in your community
Call for a private consultation on or off the telephone
Retreats
Support Groups
What baby boomer, parent or young adult, doesn’t need a moment of hope?
Life is complex. You are overwhelmed with the news of the day and the list of your to do’s.
I would be a fool to not stop and see the beauty out my office window. I did nothing to make it happen.
The blooming jasmine arrive every year.
Unpredictable in its timing. HOPE.
I open the window to be closer and smell.
What gives you hope? What can you email to a friend that inspires their day?
Take good care,
Natalie
natalie@emptynestsupport.com
Are you vacationing on your own or with your family? Who will be home?
Parents have called sharing their excitement and concerns about their children coming back home.
They know the good stuff but feel anxious about the new role they need to live.
Number one issue that causes resentment and disappointment is UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS.
You have had the territory to yourself. You know how to be the parent you were but not the adult to adult one.
They haven’t had authority around called PARENTS.
I know how excited I get to see my daughter’s face and give her a big hug. She tells me she looks forward to homemade soups, candles lit, full refrigerator, laundry, cozy bed and home where she can let go. TiVo is an added bonus. Veggies in the garden to pick are a constant. I love hearing stories about her life and when her friends pop over, who I have known since they were little ones.
1. Matt shared with me he likes spending time with his family but wants to be spontaneous.
2. Karen, the mom, likes a plan.
3. Key is to negotiate and check things out before you market and cook.
4. Keep quick meal ideas in the freezer and pantry for those kids that pop in or those that decide not to come home and you have plates of untouched food. Cook when you have a solid YES.
5. Let them cook.
6. Keep to your routine.
7. You worked hard to focus back on yourself after your nest emptied. Keep touching in with your feelings and needs. Be aware of the part of you that wants to drop everything because your children are back home . They have their own plans and you have, what? Hurt feelings
8. Be flexible.
9. Although this sounds trite and simple, SMILE. Don’t get caught in power struggles. Build happy memories.
10. Biggest complaint children tell me, “My parents ask too many questions and talk too much.”
Biggest complaint parents express, “They only think about themselves.”
Say what you need. Tell your top need. “I want to go hiking with you and I want to have dinner together. ” Give them two times for a choice that work for you and ASK when that work does for you?
• Let them know you don’t want to plan and then they drop your need for another plan.
• Don’t over give. It just grows resentment that they didn’t ask you to do.
• Stand tall if they are disrespectful. Try saying, “STOP IT.”
• Expect less and cheer if you get more. Challenging. Takes practice
• Children want to sleep. Allow them to self-care.
• Your role has changed more to mentor than manager.
• You forget, they love you and need you. They just aren’t the same as you. They want to sail their own ship even when there is no wind.
• Enjoy this time. Let it be. Add beauty and peace at home.
Parents are motivated to continue being a great role model which includes nurturing your own needs.
Practice being in the moment and not the past or future.
Wishing you a happy Spring Break,
Natalie
Featured in TIME, NY TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, BETTER HOMES and GARDENS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, RADIO, and more…
Invite her to speak in your community.
Call for a private consultation on the phone.
800-446-3310
818-763-0188 local Los Angeles
www.emptynestsupport.com
natalie@emptynestsupport.com
A parent shared with me that if she could have one wish it would be to not think so much. We asked her what she would put in place of thinking so much. Her response “I have no idea because it is all I seem to do…think and think and think.” Each of us gave each other a practice for the week.
You can guess what she received. TO NOTICE WHAT YOU ARE DOING WHEN YOU AREN’T IN YOUR BUSY HEAD.” She keeps a journal of her weekly practices. Next week she will share even if she says, I STILL DON’T KNOW.
I have noticed we think we need an answer to our wonderments, problems, and unknowns. We are practicing not having an answer for now. We like trying something we haven’t because honestly, we get bored easily.
Here is what we are going to do with our wish: We wish to have it be OK for now to not have a direction, a solution, a response.
One woman shared that she actually tells herself when stressed by too much thinking and not knowing what to do to soften her frustrations; she says to herself, “I am not going there right now. I am right her walking my dog.
That is where I am and where I want to be right now. I am not going there right now.”
Each of us finds ways to shift our habits and allow new behavior to practice.
What behavior would you wish to shift right now? What do you think you would put in place of that behavior that took your time?
Share with us. Do you remember that line, “If you tell, I’ll tell.” I don’t know where I heard that but it popped up today. Sounds young, doesn’t it.
Take good care,
Natalie
Visit my website for upcoming workshops and retreats.
www.emptynestsupport.com
Call for a private consultation on the telephone or in person.
818-763-0188 Pacific Time
Email me with your questions natalie@emptynestsupport.com
Featured in TIME, USA TODAY, WASHINGTON POST, Radio, NY TIMES, LA TIMES, BETTER HOMES and GARDENS, LIFETIME RADIO FOR WOMEN, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, ASSOCIATED PRESS, and more
Meet me on FACEBOOK, LINKED IN, and TWITTER.
Tossed without a softener, I feel my roughness.
Clasped by the drive to make something,
I need to open.
My age hasn’t broken my creativity.
Who wants me, has.
Dried out from my own spinning, I answer.
I DO.
I CAN’T STOP
I AM AWAKENED by my passion.
If you view it, great.
I feel privileged to meet my passion.
By Anonymous
Meredith, a go getter woman, and person who also crawls when confused, asked me,” What do I do when I feel overwhelmed?” Whether single, student, married, boomer, or empty nester, transitions pause us.
I asked her what she has done in the past when stuck? When you allow the person you are with to explore him or herself, while you stay present with them, they find some choices. Trust gets broken. Hope melts. Minds get cluttered. It happens to all of us. We go, feel the fire of creativity and success, and then something enters and we collapse.
What we want are choices and the first step.
1. What I need today is…
2. How can I make that happen…
3. Who can I call to support me when I have blinders on…
Don’t you wish you had someone to be with you when you are ready for change? Who would that be?
Why wouldn’t you extend to them?
With one client, who always feels her to do list is piled and she easily gets distracted, I stood by her computer while I had her write what she really wanted to get done and what she had to get done no matter what. In the subject of the email to herself, I had her write the next day, Wednesday. It took seven minutes. When she entered her office the next morning, Wednesday, she had her plan on her computer. She was relieved. She got going.
No one needs to go through implementing changes without support.
What has worked for you and what needs support today? Do you not know where to begin?
Let me know how I can help you on or off the phone, in your city or mine.
My peace of mind and success is partially here because of my desire, my realistic expectations of myself, my tenacity, and my knowing who I am and am not. I ask for help even when my face turns red from embarrassment.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Natalie
natalie@emptynestsupport.com
818-763-0188 Los Angeles
www.emptynestsupport.com
Featured in TIME, NY TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, BETTER HOMES and GARDENS, LIFETIME RADIO FOR WOMEN, LA TIMES, USA TODAY, and more…
The Grammy Awards with Mick Jagger and Barbara Streisand, where the audience stood and shouted their love, is being talked about along with Lady Gaga and the women who sang the opening, honoring Aretha.
Aretha Franklin, in warming white, appreciating her fans and award.
Congresswoman Gifford is speaking with her husband, Mark. Miracle.
Prince William and Kate are igniting anticipation of beauty and royal weddings as they chat about their upcoming wedding.
Love is saying you’re sorry and never too late as noted by Ali and Ryan.
Making each other laugh while chatting is President Obama and The First Lady, Michelle’s, romance longevity.
What is yours?
Are you hopeful for conversations with a new partner? Will you send love notes to your children and grandchildren or phone calls?
Mary, 71, shared, “I lost my husband this year and he was my only partner. He made me a jelly sandwich and put words of love on the plate for Valentine’s Day.” I don’t imagine that from anyone, now. I do love talking about us.
Janet, 45, shared,” Hubby isn’t romantic, but he looks right at me when he talks and I just love that.”
Brian, 52, shared, “I am the romantic. She is the get it done, worker bee, but not in the bedroom. Her favorite place to chat with me is in the car so I take her for long rides and then pull over.”
Lady Antebellum, “I NEED YOU NOW.” Are you comfortable needing someone?
Oh the proud parents watching their children sing at The Grammy’s, brought back memories of parents watching their children perform in a recital at school. Who doesn’t want to talk about that time of life?
Many stories of conversations that connect and ignite another conversation. Debbie, 57, told me her best conversations these days are with her howling brown and white dog that leaps on her bed and pulls her outside. She hopes for better conversations and still believes in love and marriage. Well, she might skip the marriage and just love the love.
Here’s to my hope that you love and be loved, first with self with the reminder that loving self is igniting and a gift.
Have fun,
Natalie
natalie@emptynestsupport.com
(800) 446-3310 or (818) 763-0188
On the web www.emptynestsupport.com
Featured in TIME MAGAZINE, NY TIMES, LIFETIME RADIO FOR WOMEN, LA TIMES, USA TODAY, WASHINGTON POST, BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
Change is inevitable. Get Ready. Get Support. Life transitions need a hand to hold.
Parents, Empty Nesters, and Boomers ask me, “With all the stories you hear, do you still believe in real love?” Real. How do you define real? The surprise is there are secrets couples live because they don’t feel they have a clan that would understand.
They are ok with their choice of what real love is for them. If it works, it works. You have heard a list of how love works well: listen, give, surprise, get off the routine wheel, be happy.
Yes, I for sure believe in love. Maybe you want to make yourself a love card and keep it visible.
Honestly, it does take courage and a shift of what you tell yourself to keep love vibrant. No matter what, trust that love is real and available. How do you do that? Have the courage to grieve what hasn’t been available and keep going for what matters to you in your relationship and the ones you hope to sit beside.
Love is available in many circles of your precious life. Look there. Ordinary days are gifts of love. We don’t need fireworks to feel alive or valued. Who told you what love is and isn’t? What do you tell yourself about love?
Quick story. I met a vibrant women beyond her sixties who told me love for her is being able to really SEE things in her garden, photo them, and make collages. If someone comes to see it, great, if not she loves her garden and keeps it growing.
An empty nest mother said, “I get misty remembering the school Valentine boxes and cookies I helped make for her son’s class, but really, I would rather go to my Pilates class, now.” Memories ignite or bring us down. You choose.
May you love the life you have and pass that joy.
Natalie
natalie@emptynestsupport.com
(800) 446-3310 or (818) 763-0188
On the web www.emptynestsupport.com
Featured in Change is TIME MAGAZINE, NY TIMES, LIFETIME RADIO FOR WOMEN, LA TIMES, USA TODAY, WASHINGTON POST, BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
What’s one of your earliest childhood memories?
I asked a group of Boomers, Empty Nesters, and College grads that question and they asked me, “WHY?” I didn’t want to answer that at first because it loses the spontaneous thought so I said I will tell you later. So just let anything pop in your mind now.
I know you are thinking, “I can’t remember.” So fast forward to any younger memory than today. Did something bubble up?
I remember skipping rocks on the Ohio River behind my house. It took me a long time to get the skip. Pride when I saw it three times skim across the water. I rarely do that but imagine I would laugh and that I would remember how to make the skip.
I ask that question because we have a habit of focusing on what’s not working in our life or not getting done rather than the happiness or what is good enough for now.
Remembering fun feeds your choices today. Ally, shared and said I could share with you,”Oh ya, I use to love to roller skate. Maybe I could do it again if someone goes with me.”
What would you do again if someone went with you?
I met an inspiring 74 year old woman this weekend who I thought was 62. I asked what she did for fun and she said, “I sing at open mic night once a week.” Wow. She added that she misses hiking but substitutes chi gong and long walks.
The thing I notice from my clients and workshops is we all think too much rather than taking the leap to just do something we are thinking about doing.
So here’s to the love of picking something to do and doing it.
Natalie
(800) 446-3310 or (818) 763-0188
Los Angeles, CA
Natalie@emptynestsupport.com
On the web www.emptynestsupport.com
Featured in TIME MAGAZINE, NY TIMES, LIFETIME RADIO FOR WOMEN, LA TIMES, USA TODAY, WASHINGTON POST, BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
Change is inevitable. Get Ready. Get Support. Life transitions need a hand to hold.
Just back from Spark and Hustle conference with Tory Johnson in Los Angeles.
Tory, thank you for inviting me to participate on the panel “Concept to Cash”.
Hustle with a heart is how I felt driving home. Tips and strategies from experts with a real heartfelt presentation from Julie and Jack Nadel. I cried as Tory gifted them with yellow roses and a silver frame.
Tory was always available to advise and connect with the participants. People left feeling motivated, and filled with concrete tips of what to do next, as well as, further down their passion road in order to keep their spark lit. Her staff stood tall.
Don’t miss this opportunity during the year to get to a Spark and Hustle conference in order to be educated on how to make money at what you love.
Thank you Tory,
Natalie
PS – Thank you Polkatots Cupcakes for this delicious cake and the coconut cupcakes.
Natalie Caine, M.A. natalie@lifeintransition.org
