I posted earlier but I think I didn't work my question very well, so apologies for the second post. I feel I need to reword to clarify what my question was. So please feel free to read my other post first and then read this one.
My earlier question was about how to cope with the emptiness and grief that comes from your child, who you were everything to, becoming a teenager who needs and wants you less. But as I have received a lot of responses telling me that my teen still needs me, I've realised the misunderstanding. I'm very aware that my teen still needs me and that parenting doesn't stop, it just changes when my kids grow up. But what I want to know is how to make myself happy - how to find myself again, after 12 years of giving my life entirely to my kids.
To give some context, I never really wanted kids so had zero expectations. I never thought of myself as remotely maternal. Then suddenly in my 30's I craved having a baby. And having kids took me a bit by surprise as I absolutely loved it. So I gave myself 110% to being a parent. I gave up my very fast paced and stressful management consultancy job, and started my own business so I could work around my kids and be here for them before and after school. My social life pre-kids was largely centred around going out in London. My hobbies were travel which took up most of my time when not working, and skiing. 5 years ago we moved out of London and started again in a small town. Now I work on my own so don't have any colleagues to hang out with, and most of the people I know here are mum friends who I have the odd drink with but don't feel all that close to.
So now my kids don't swallow up every moment I'm not working, I'm a bit lost. I miss my time hanging out with my littlies, I miss the physical and emotional closeness I had with them when they were younger. But I don't feel like I know who I am any more. My business is quite time consuming but beyond that I don't have any hobbies (or at least, my hobbies are things I still do with my family but aren't really things you can do day-to-day) and I don't really know what I want to do with my time anymore. The things I used to enjoy doing in London (going to private views for art exhibitions, going to members clubs, eating in fancy restaurants) aren't really available in a small town of 20k people plus aren't really financially possible any more, and I also feel I've outgrown that stage of my life anyway. But I haven't found a new life to replace it. I'm really not looking for suggestions for hobbies - I can manage that on my own, that's not the issue. This is more about how to mentally reset myself, how to learn to cope with becoming another new person again, how to work out what I want to be for the next stage of my life.
So sorry for the longwinded post, but this is really me asking for resources (books/blogs etc) about finding yourself as an adult human being again after kids please. Thanks