Book Review: Taking Flight From the Empty Nest by Mary Jenson

The month of August 2016 my blog was devoted to the Empty Nest Syndrome. In my research for those articles I found many excellent books on this topic. One of the best that I kept going back to was Taking Flight from the Empty Nest by Mary Jensen. In her book, Jensen takes on the empty nest syndrome in a very personal, often funny, but very helpful way. She very effectively and interestingly accomplishes this through many short stories.

When I was going through the empty nest this is the book I turned to the most. It was the most helpful to me personally.

I found the following chapters especially helpful to me:

1. Beginning In this chapter Jensen lays the foundation of an empty nest. She very accurately depicts the emotions that most moms feel as their children leave home. I found through this chapter that my feelings were very normal and I was not alone in my emotional struggle.
2. Hovering My Spiritual Gift - In this chapter Jensen describes me (and maybe you, too). This was me when my children were home, I wanted to "protect" then. The funny thing is, I never knew I was "hovering". I thought I was "parenting".
3. Kickboxing This one page chapter motivated me to get up, go to the gym, and concentrate on myself for a change. A really short chapter with a lot of punch. This was what I needed.
4. Endings Here is the summary of this beautiful book. Jensen successfully outlines all of the helpful points of her book. Once I read the book, I used this to turn to when I felt weak or emotional, it reminded me of the lessons learned in the book. Jensen was wise to create this "ending" to her book.
5. The empty nest can affect men, too, but in all honesty - women feel it the most. Women for the most part have devoted every waking thought to their family. Men have had distractions, knowing their wives had the home front covered.

Some roles have blended over the last decade(s), but still women give birth, are the primary nuturer, and accept responsibility for the health of their family.

On page 95 of Jensen's book, she included Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare. It is lovely:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and
is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown,
although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool,
though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with
his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

If you are coming up to the "empty nest years" or are already in them, please consider this wonderful little, easy to read book. It is broken down into short easy to read and digest chapters. It will make a difference.
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You can find this book here: https://www.amazon.com/Taking-Flight-Empty-Nest-Jenson/dp/0736902333
Also check Mary Jensen's Book out here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2393692.Taking_Flight_from_the_Empty_Nest
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Are you approaching the empty nest years? How do you feel? Are you seeking help to guide you through these emotional times? If you have already experienced the empty nest, what helped you? How did you survive? Do you focus on yourself more now? Please share your comments and help other women get through these challenging years.
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XOXO