Motherhood After They Leave: Empty Nest, Identity & Letting Go | Dr. Joann Finkelstein

In My Hometown · Sep 29, 2026 · 35m · transcript

We spend nearly two decades raising our kids to become independent—and then they do exactly what they’re supposed to do: they leave. So why can the empty nest feel so destabilizing?

Clinical psychologist Dr. Joann Finkelstein, and author of Sexism and Sensibility, joins Jamie Stein to talk about the transition no one really prepares parents for: what happens to us when our kids don’t need us in the same way anymore.

Jamie and Joann get into the grief that can come with an empty nest—even when you’re thrilled for your kids—the loss and evolution of our identity as mothers, and the question so…