The Almost Empty Nest—Letting Go, Redefined: Parenting Teens and Finding Yourself Again—with Small Jar Coach
Are you stuck between wanting to guide your teen or college kid and knowing it’s time to start letting go? Welcome to The Almost Empty Nest Podcast, where moms of teens and college kids reframe what ‘letting go’...
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Episodes
The L.O.V.E. Technique — A Mindset Reset for Moms Who Feel Overwhelmed, Anxious, and Stuck in Overthinking | Ep. 97
There are days when motherhood feels like too much—when the weight of worry, responsibility, and overthinking leaves me anxious and exhausted. I created the L.O.V.E. Technique because I needed a way to step off that...
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The Fix-It Mindset — How the Urge to Help Keeps Moms Anxious, Overwhelmed, and Emotionally Exhausted | Ep. 96
Fixing things used to feel like love—jumping in to help, offering advice, smoothing the path so my teen wouldn’t struggle. But eventually, I realized all that fixing was costing me more than I thought. It left me...
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The Worry Mindset — How Overthinking, Uncertainty, and a Fear of Letting Go Keep Moms of Teens Stuck in Anxiety | Ep. 95
Worry has always felt like part of motherhood—like proof that I care deeply and want to protect my teen. But over time, I started to see how that worry wasn’t keeping anyone safe; it was just keeping me stuck in...
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The Mindset Trap Primer — What Every Mom Needs to Know About the Mental Habits That Steal Your Peace | Ep. 94
This season of motherhood is full of emotional whiplash—one moment I’m trying to guide my teen through college applications or mental health struggles, and the next I’m wondering who I even am outside of being a mom....
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I Am Enough — How Moms of Teens Can Stop Overthinking and Start Trusting Themselves Again | Ep. 93
For years, I’ve chased the feeling that what I was doing as a mom was “enough.” That I was doing enough, giving enough, being enough. But no matter how much I checked off the list or how hard I tried, that whisper of...
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Debunking the Empty Nest Syndrome — Letting Go of the Guilt and Finding Yourself Again | Ep. 92
They call it a “syndrome,” but what if there’s nothing wrong with you at all? As my teen prepared to leave, I started feeling that quiet ache—grief, confusion, even guilt for not handling it better. But then I started...
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Embracing Mindset Traps — A New Way to Understand Guilt, Anxiety, and the Emotional Chaos of Motherhood | Ep. 91
Every time I spiraled in guilt, anxiety, or overthinking, I thought something was wrong with me. But what if these mindset traps aren’t flaws—they’re invitations? In this episode, I talk about the patterns that keep...
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Illusion of Control — The Trap that Keeps Moms Frustrated and Exhausted — Mindset Trap #14 | Ep. 90
For a long time, I believed that if I just planned better, worried more, or tried harder, I could control the outcome—for me and for my kids. But that mindset didn’t lead to peace—it led to burnout. In this episode, I...
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Overgeneralization — The Trap That Turns One Bad Moment Into a Story About Everything — Mindset Trap #13 | Ep. 89 | Ep. 89
It’s so easy to take a few moments of your teen’s behavior and make them mean everything — that they’ll always be anxious, unmotivated, disrespectful, or behind. I’ve done it, and I know how heavy those conclusions...
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Finding True Love Again — A Midlife Mom’s Journey to Self-Worth, Connection, and Letting Go of Validation | Ep. 88
Romantic love isn’t just about having a partner—it’s about the way we think about connection, worthiness, and what it means to matter. Whether you’re in a relationship, recovering from one, or wondering if you want...
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Rebuilding Friendship — A Midlife Mom’s Guide to Connection, Vulnerability, and Letting Go of What Doesn’t Fit | Ep. 87
Friendship used to come easy—playdates, shared struggles, sideline chats. But somewhere in the chaos of raising teens and the quiet of the empty nest, I started to feel disconnected. From others. From myself. In this...
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Relationship Goals with Your Teen — A Mom’s Guide to Parenting Teens Without Losing the Relationship | Ep. 86
The older my kids get, the more I realize: parenting isn’t about control—it’s about connection. But that’s so much easier said than done, especially when your teen is pulling away or making choices you don’t...
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