Has your role as a hands on Mum changed and do you know what to do with yourself?

[SeekingFulfillment]

My role as a mum changed 3 years ago and I would be really interested to hear about other women's experiences when your children become independant/ left home etc. How have you coped? Have you embraced the chance to do the things that you couldn't do before or do you feel at a loss and don't know what to do with yourself?

I'm not quite there yet but have had some years in the past when I was in a situation a bit similar (difficult to explain really) but at that time the key was having a "goal", something to work towards it. No goal and I felt totally at loss.
The other thing is to have some rituals of routines that give structure to your week. Things that happen all the time and at the same time that define time available, too much freedom on what to do with my time and I spend all the time in bed. The routines can be as simple as to go to the supermarket every Monday, have a haircut every 6 weeks,changing the bedsheets on saturday mornings, or the meet with friends the first Thursday of the month.
The other one is keep your house always tidy and don't keep many thngs. Too much clutter drags you down and makes you feel like you always have something to do at home (even if you don't do it!) and prevents you from doing other things, it may also restrict your social life if you don't feel comfortable with people droping by or even organising for people to come for dinner, a coffee, etc.

Hope that helps.