Many women arrive in midlife carrying a quiet longing they can't quite name.

Maybe you've done the therapy, built a beautiful life, raised children, and accomplished so much—and yet something still feels unfinished.

In her book Mother Hunger, therapist Kelly McDaniel identifies three essential needs every daughter requires from her mother:

To be seen, soothed, comforted, and cherished.

When nurturance is missing, we may spend years searching for comfort through achievement, food, busyness, relationships, or approval.

Re-mothering question:

To feel safe, defended, and worthy of boundaries.

When protection is missing, we may struggle with people-pleasing, over-functioning, or allowing others to cross our boundaries.

Re-mothering question:

To be helped in developing trust in ourselves and our own inner wisdom.

When guidance is missing, we may second-guess ourselves or constantly look outside ourselves for answers.

Re-mothering question:

For many women, the empty nest years bring old longings to the surface.

As we spend less time actively mothering others, we may become more aware of the ways we still long to be nurtured, protected, and guided ourselves.

The invitation isn't to blame our mothers or wait for them to change, but to become increasingly capable of providing these things for ourselves.

As our children grow, our role evolves.

We continue to offer:

A beautiful question to consider:

How can I love my adult children deeply while trusting their journey completely?

Healing comes from learning to provide yourself with the nurturance, protection, and guidance you've needed all along.

If you’re the midlife mom of adult children who can use some support and encouragement as you re-mother yourself, I can help.  I invite you to schedule a complimentary coaching call with me. Here’s the link:

Coaching Call with Terri

Thank you for investing your valuable time and energy into listening to the podcast. I’m so very grateful for you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you can “tip the bartender” by rating and reviewing the podcast. Your review makes it easier for others to find the podcast. 

Don’t forget to hit the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time I pour out a new episode. 

My book Intentional Intoxication: How To Deliberately Distill The Different Life You Desire, is available on Amazon. You can imbibe on the entire book in one, short, intentionally happier hour:

Intentional Intoxication Book

If you’re interested to know about how I can support you in overcoming the habit of escaping or chasing, I invite you to reach out to me by using the email below and we find a time to chat:

[email protected]

For a quick shot of your life’s current level of intoxication, I invite you to complete the 10 Questions on my Intoxication Inventory:

Intoxication Inventory

Many women live with a quiet belief running in the background:

I'm not doing enough. I'm not accomplishing enough. I haven't had enough. I am not enough.

What's interesting is that getting “more” rarely solves the problem. The goal is reached, the project is finished, the glass is refilled, and the feeling simply moves to the next thing.

The truth is that "not enough" is often not a quantity problem—it's an experience problem.

We spend so much time chasing the next thing that we lose the ability to recognize sufficiency in the present moment.

In this episode, we explore:

Essentialism teaches us that if everything matters, nothing is ever enough. When we identify what is truly essential, we create boundaries around our time, energy, and attention—and we allow that to be enough.

Questions to consider:

Because perhaps enough isn't found by adding more to our lives.

Perhaps enough is found by removing everything that distracts us from what matters most.

Essentialism is not the pursuit of less. It's the disciplined pursuit of enough.

If you’re the midlife mom of adult children who can use some support and encouragement as you navigate this new season, I can help.  I invite you to schedule a complimentary coaching call with me. Here’s the link:

Coaching Call with Terri

Thank you for investing your valuable time and energy into listening to the podcast. I’m so very grateful for you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you can “tip the bartender” by rating and reviewing the podcast. Your review makes it easier for others to find the podcast. 

Don’t forget to hit the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time I pour out a new episode. 

My book Intentional Intoxication: How To Deliberately Distill The Different Life You Desire, is available on Amazon. You can imbibe on the entire book in one, short, intentionally happier hour:

Intentional Intoxication Book

If you’re interested to know about how I can support you in overcoming the habit of escaping or chasing, I invite you to reach out to me by using the email below and we find a time to chat:

[email protected]

For a quick shot of your life’s current level of intoxication, I invite you to complete the 10 Questions on my Intoxication Inventory:

Intoxication Inventory

For midlife moms of adult children, our role shifts dramatically. While we still love them deeply, we can no longer protect, guide, or guarantee outcomes the way we could when they were adolescents. 

In this episode, we explore the difference between loving our children and trying to emotionally future-proof them.

If you’ve been carrying sadness, fear, or helplessness as your children find their footing in adulthood, this episode is a reminder that uncertainty is not failure — it is often part of them becoming fully functioning adults. Nor is discomfort proof that they are doomed. 

If you’re the midlife mom of adult children who wants to learn how to support your grown kids without worrying about their futures, I can help.  I invite you to schedule a complimentary coaching call with me. Here’s the link:

Coaching Call with Terri

Thank you for investing your valuable time and energy into listening to the podcast. I’m so very grateful for you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you can “tip the bartender” by rating and reviewing the podcast. Your review makes it easier for others to find the podcast. 

Don’t forget to hit the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time I pour out a new episode. 

My book Intentional Intoxication: How To Deliberately Distill The Different Life You Desire, is available on Amazon. You can imbibe on the entire book in one, short, intentionally happier hour:

Intentional Intoxication Book

If you’re interested to know about how I can support you in overcoming the habit of escaping or chasing, I invite you to reach out to me by using the email below and we find a time to chat:

[email protected]

For a quick shot of your life’s current level of intoxication, I invite you to complete the 10 Questions on my Intoxication Inventory:

Intoxication Inventory

Many women—especially mothers of adult children—have been taught that love means emotional availability at all times.

But there’s a difference between being compassionate and becoming emotionally permeable or enmeshed.

In this episode, we explore:

We also discuss:

I invite you to consider this question:

“Am I supporting my adult child… or am I becoming responsible for their emotional life?”

I encourage you to remember that:

If you’re the midlife mom of adult children who wants to learn how to support your grown kids in an emotionally healthy way, I can help.  I invite you to schedule a complimentary coaching call with me. Here’s the link:

Coaching Call with Terri

Thank you for investing your valuable time and energy into listening to the podcast. I’m so very grateful for you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you can “tip the bartender” by rating and reviewing the podcast. Your review makes it easier for others to find the podcast. 

Don’t forget to hit the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time I pour out a new episode. 

My book Intentional Intoxication: How To Deliberately Distill The Different Life You Desire, is available on Amazon. You can imbibe on the entire book in one, short, intentionally happier hour:

Intentional Intoxication Book

If you’re interested to know about how I can support you in overcoming the habit of escaping or chasing, I invite you to reach out to me by using the email below and we find a time to chat:

[email protected]

For a quick shot of your life’s current level of intoxication, I invite you to complete the 10 Questions on my Intoxication Inventory:

Intoxication Inventory

When our children were growing up, we were meant to be their emotional charging station.

They came to us for:

That was healthy.

But in the empty nest season, many parents unconsciously reverse that relationship and begin expecting their adult children to emotionally sustain them.

Our adult children are not meant to carry our emotional well-being:

When kids are young, dependency is normal.

But adulthood changes the assignment.

Adult children are supposed to separate, build lives, and become independent.

If we need them to emotionally stabilize us, we place a burden on them they were never meant to carry.

This often sounds like:

Underneath is often:

“I need you to help me feel secure.”

That creates guilt instead of closeness and obligation instead of intimacy.

Sometimes what we call concern is actually emotional dependence.

Ask yourself:

If so, we may be emotionally plugging into them instead of standing on our own emotional ground.

Gretchen Rubin shared this idea:

“What if our adult children are only as happy as their least happy parent?”

Your peace gives them permission to live.

Your groundedness frees them from managing you emotionally.

A fulfilled parent says:

“You are free to build your life.

This doesn’t mean becoming distant.

It means healthy emotional responsibility.

“I will always support you,

That is mature love.

One of the greatest gifts we can give our adult children is a parent who knows how to stay fully charged on her own.

If you’re the midlife mom of adult children who wants to learn how to recharge your own emotional battery, I can help.  I invite you to schedule a complimentary coaching call with me. Here’s the link:

Coaching Call with Terri

Thank you for investing your valuable time and energy into listening to the podcast. I’m so very grateful for you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you can “tip the bartender” by rating and reviewing the podcast. Your review makes it easier for others to find the podcast. 

Don’t forget to hit the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time I pour out a new episode. 

My book Intentional Intoxication: How To Deliberately Distill The Different Life You Desire, is available on Amazon. You can imbibe on the entire book in one, short, intentionally happier hour:

Intentional Intoxication Book

If you’re interested to know about how I can support you in overcoming the habit of escaping or chasing, I invite you to reach out to me by using the email below and we find a time to chat:

[email protected]

For a quick shot of your life’s current level of intoxication, I invite you to complete the 10 Questions on my Intoxication Inventory:

Intoxication Inventory

Key Insight:

Reframe:

The first round wasn’t about perfection—it was about clarity.

It revealed:

Are you trying to create a plan for your next chapter…

If you’re the midlife mom of adult children who needs clarity in regard to your next chapter, I can help.  I invite you to schedule a complimentary coaching call with me. Here’s the link:

Coaching Call with Terri

Thank you for investing your valuable time and energy into listening to the podcast. I’m so very grateful for you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you can “tip the bartender” by rating and reviewing the podcast. Your review makes it easier for others to find the podcast. 

Don’t forget to hit the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time I pour out a new episode. 

My book Intentional Intoxication: How To Deliberately Distill The Different Life You Desire, is available on Amazon. You can imbibe on the entire book in one, short, intentionally happier hour:

Intentional Intoxication Book

If you’re interested to know about how I can support you in overcoming the habit of escaping or chasing, I invite you to reach out to me by using the email below and we find a time to chat:

[email protected]

For a quick shot of your life’s current level of intoxication, I invite you to complete the 10 Questions on my Intoxication Inventory:

Intoxication Inventory

There’s a quote many mothers have heard:

“You’re only as happy as your least happy child.”

And if we’re honest, many of us have lived like that’s true.

If one child is struggling—emotionally, relationally, financially, spiritually, or professionally—we feel it deeply.

Especially in the empty nest season, it can feel like our emotional well-being is still tied to our children’s lives.

But what if there’s another way to look at it?

Gretchen Rubin shared this thought:

What if our adult children are only as happy as their least happy parent?

That shifts everything.

Maybe our role now is not to keep managing their happiness.

Maybe our work is to become the kind of parent whose peace gives them permission to live.

Your happiness is not selfis - it’s leadership. A peaceful, grounded, emotionally healthy parent creates freedom for adult children.

Adult children need parents who trust, believe, and model emotional adulthood - they do not need a parent who is constantly worried, hovering, or emotionally dependent.

Maybe the goal of motherhood in this season is to become the kind of parent whose life says:

“You are free to go build yours.

Because perhaps our children are only as happy as their least happy parent.

And maybe the work now…

is learning how to become a happy one.

If you’re the midlife mom of adult children who needs some support to create happiness in your next chapter, I can help.  I invite you to schedule a complimentary coaching call with me. Here’s the link:

Coaching Call with Terri

Thank you for investing your valuable time and energy into listening to the podcast. I’m so very grateful for you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you can “tip the bartender” by rating and reviewing the podcast. Your review makes it easier for others to find the podcast. 

Don’t forget to hit the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time I pour out a new episode. 

My book Intentional Intoxication: How To Deliberately Distill The Different Life You Desire, is available on Amazon. You can imbibe on the entire book in one, short, intentionally happier hour:

Intentional Intoxication Book

If you’re interested to know about how I can support you in overcoming the habit of escaping or chasing, I invite you to reach out to me by using the email below and we find a time to chat:

[email protected]

For a quick shot of your life’s current level of intoxication, I invite you to complete the 10 Questions on my Intoxication Inventory:

Intoxication Inventory

Do you ever wonder WHY you do what you do?

According to author and speaker, Tony Robbins, there are six human needs that drive all of us — and understanding them can bring so much clarity and self-awareness.

On today’s episode I’ll apply my understanding of Robbins’ 6 needs to the empty nest stage of life during which midlife women are reimagining “what’s next” while mothering adult children. 

The first four needs help us feel emotionally safe.

Sometimes what feels like dissatisfaction is simply an unmet need.

Understanding your needs helps you move from self-judgment to self-awareness.

Sometimes the discomfort you feel is simply information.

It may be showing you what your life is asking for next.

Here’s the link to Robbins’ article:

Tony Robbins: 6 Human Needs

If you’re the midlife mom of adult children who needs some support as you craft a next chapter that addresses your 6 needs, I can help.  I invite you to schedule a complimentary coaching call with me. Here’s the link:

Coaching Call with Terri

Thank you for investing your valuable time and energy into listening to the podcast. I’m so very grateful for you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you can “tip the bartender” by rating and reviewing the podcast. Your review makes it easier for others to find the podcast. 

Don’t forget to hit the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time I pour out a new episode. 

My book Intentional Intoxication: How To Deliberately Distill The Different Life You Desire, is available on Amazon. You can imbibe on the entire book in one, short, intentionally happier hour:

Intentional Intoxication Book

If you’re interested to know about how I can support you in overcoming the habit of escaping or chasing, I invite you to reach out to me by using the email below and we find a time to chat:

[email protected]

For a quick shot of your life’s current level of intoxication, I invite you to complete the 10 Questions on my Intoxication Inventory:

Intoxication Inventory

Arthur Brooks, author of The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose In An Age of Emptiness, is a Harvard professor and social scientist who studies happiness and meaning. 

His formula is:

Happiness = Enjoyment + Satisfaction + Meaning

This gives us a practical framework to ask:

Especially in the empty nest season, this can become a beautiful guide for rediscovering identity and purpose.

If you’re the midlife mom of adult children who needs some support as you craft a next chapter filled with happiness, satisfaction, enjoyment, and meaning, I can help.  I invite you to schedule a complimentary coaching call with me. Here’s the link:

Coaching Call with Terri

Thank you for investing your valuable time and energy into listening to the podcast. I’m so very grateful for you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you can “tip the bartender” by rating and reviewing the podcast. Your review makes it easier for others to find the podcast. 

Don’t forget to hit the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time I pour out a new episode. 

My new book Intentional Intoxication: How To Deliberately Distill The Different Life You Desire, is available on Amazon. You can imbibe on the entire book in one, short, intentionally happier hour:

Intentional Intoxication Book

If you’re interested to know about how I can support you in overcoming the habit of escaping or chasing, I invite you to reach out to me by using the email below and we find a time to chat:

[email protected]

For a quick shot of your life’s current level of intoxication, I invite you to complete the 10 Questions on my Intoxication Inventory:

Intoxication Inventory

Second Season vs. Next Season: Releasing the Pressure to Get It Right

In today’s episode, we’re exploring the subtle difference between calling this chapter your “second season” versus your “next season.”

At first glance, second season can sound intentional and beautiful — but it can also carry an unspoken pressure:

For many midlife women, especially moms navigating the empty nest and redefining identity, that language can feel heavy.

On the other hand, next season feels more spacious.

It reminds us that life unfolds in many seasons, not just two.

This episode explores:

The heart of this conversation:

What would I choose for this next season if I knew I could evolve again?

If you’re the midlife mom of adult children who needs some support as you intentionally plan your next chapter, I can help.  I invite you to schedule a complimentary coaching call with me. Here’s the link:

Coaching Call with Terri

Thank you for investing your valuable time and energy into listening to the podcast. I’m so very grateful for you. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you can “tip the bartender” by rating and reviewing the podcast. Your review makes it easier for others to find the podcast. 

Don’t forget to hit the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time I pour out a new episode. 

My new book Intentional Intoxication: How To Deliberately Distill The Different Life You Desire, is available on Amazon. You can imbibe on the entire book in one, short, intentionally happier hour:

Intentional Intoxication Book

If you’re interested to know about how I can support you in overcoming the habit of escaping or chasing, I invite you to reach out to me by using the email below and we find a time to chat:

[email protected]

For a quick shot of your life’s current level of intoxication, I invite you to complete the 10 Questions on my Intoxication Inventory:

Intoxication Inventory