Life is always presenting us with opportunities to let go and accept the reality of constant change. Maybe you have kids that are heading off to college and you find yourself holding on to them too tightly, unable to face the inevitable ‘goodbye.’ Maybe a voice in the back of your head is telling you to leave a job or a relationship that no longer serves you, but you choose to ignore it or focus on excuses because the prospect of your own freedom feels too daunting. Maybe you are trapped in your own head, ruminating on conversations from long ago, letting the present float by as you wonder “what if…”

When your kids leave the nest it’s time for you to fly as well. Here are 29 tips for you to reconnect and reinvent yourself in this new stage of life!

If we are blessed as parents, one day our children will graduate from high school and leave for college, trade school, the military or start a job, move away from home and begin a new exciting chapter of their lives. But they are not the only ones facing new beginnings. Parents left with an empty nest must also start a new chapter in their lives. Ideally, the letting go process started way before the kid(s) moved out. But for a lot of us, it hits us like a ton of bricks when the day comes. Managing the transition mindfully will determine if it is one characterized by excitement, or one of great feelings of loss.

Here are a three tools that may help the transition to be more of a rite of passage versus a prolonged disruption to your well-being.