Ep 186: Why You're Drinking More Since Your Kid Left for College

So I want to talk about first why week two might hit a little harder for you than week one, especially for those moms who are in their first year, because I think it's something that might catch you off guard.

Week one, you're running on adrenaline or you're completely wiped out emotionally and You know, you might have your friends that are like, hey, mama, how are you doing with your child at school? You know, your sister might call to check in on you.

You're busy just getting the rest of the house back into a rhythm.

And then, you know, there's also the other kids that are going back to school, right? And then week two comes and that adrenaline rush is gone.

The check-ins slow down and the house just starts to quiet.

And it kind of feels like it's always going to be this way.

Even when you have other kids at home, there's just a quietness that happens when one of your people is out of the house.

And that's often when the grief settles in.

It's not necessarily on drop-off day, although again, it was big for me last year.

If you're in your second week and it actually feels heavier than it did the first week, I want you to know that that doesn't mean that something's wrong with you and you're always going to be sad or feeling this low level of grief.

And not know what to do with it.

It just means that you're further into the reality of it and that's completely normal.

The other thing I want to say is you don't need anyone's permission to feel this way.

It's like with grief.

It's actually the same thing with other types of grief.

It's on your own timeline.

Like nobody can say, oh, just snap out of it.

And I also want to say this.

You can be proud that your child is growing up exactly as they should be.

And you can be genuinely happy for them.

And you can also be sad at the same time.

Those two things are not in competition.

And nobody, including the voice in your own head, gets to tell you what you can and can't feel.

So here's what I realized that I was actually doing.

I was buffering when I was junk scrolling on the way home.