Your Dreams Don’t Expire When Your Kid Grows Up: Mine Got Louder
Written By One Bad Maa
There’s this strange moment in womanhood no one wants to warn you about.
Your kid grows up, and they no longer need you every second of the day. They’re independent, thriving, building their own life… And you, you are simply there to be on stand by.
And suddenly, the house gets quiet, and then quieter.
Not empty.
Not sad.
Just… quiet.
At first, it feels like a loss. That empty nest syndrome is no joke.
Especially when you first send the baby bird off to college states away.
And, it’s like you’re supposed to sit there clutching the past because that’s what “good moms” are supposed to do, right?
But here’s the truth:
That quiet isn’t loss, it’s oxygen.
For the first time in years, you can hear your own thoughts again.
Your own dreams.
Your own fire.
Most people think womanhood slows down after your kid gets older.
Mine didn’t slow.
It detonated.
Because when your child doesn’t need you every minute anymore, you don’t disappear, you reappear.
You reappear back to yourself in the mirror.
You become the woman you had to mute while you were raising that child, or those children.
When he was heading to college?
That wasn’t an ending for me.
It was a mirror. A reminder.
She gets to rise into her own life.
And so do I.
This chapter of womanhood is not about holding on tighter, to keep the fort inline.
it’s about stepping into the version of yourself you had to postpone.
Your dreams don’t expire at 30.
Or 40.
Or even 50.
Hell, some dreams don’t even start breathing until then.
The Realm isn’t my escape.
It’s my rebirth.
My second lease on the next half of my life, built with the same strength I used to raise my kid.
So if you’re in that weird, in-between chapter…
If the quiet feels strange…
Just know this:
You’re not losing your purpose.
You’re rediscovering your identity.
Your fire isn’t fading,
it’s finally getting oxygen.
And the woman you’re becoming now?
She’s the one you were always meant to meet.
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