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Why A Marriage Check-Up Is Essential Before Facing the Empty Nest
Maybe you got the memo early in your marriage, but I missed it. Life has pivotal stages, and it can benefit us to notice them. We could even go as far as understanding their potential and preparing for them.
Empty Nest can be a pivotal stage for some couples, especially when it often coincides with the changing dynamics that middle-aged people experience. If you add on factors like “shifts in mental and physical health, family composition, aging parents, and financial vulnerabilities” you begin to understand the importance of this transition (Infurna, Gerstork, Lachman, 2020).
“Splitting up after age 50 — often called gray divorce, has doubled in the U.S. since 1990.”
— Ben Steverman/Los Angeles Times, 2019, para. 2
When the kids leave home, we have more space and time, which can lead to startling revelations. They aren’t all negative, but what we see can be surprising. We lived on autopilot for a long time and the empty nest transition can be a big enough jolt to get us off that and looking at things.
Most of us have heard the adage, “They kept it together until the kids left home.” Ben Steverman’s article notes that even if the increasing gray divorce trend stays the same, “they predict there will be more than 828,000 Americans…
