Cover Reveal!

Plus: perfectionism, anxiety, and parenting adult children.

What’s worse? Picking a paint color or choosing a subtitle?

I struggle with paint colors. But I’ve discovered that choosing a subtitle is worse by far. Who knew?

It seems crazy that at times I can make a snap decision without a second thought—like saying “yes” to a new job, buying a cabin, or flying off to Florida for a retreat with a dozen strangers.

At other times, I get stuck. Really stuck. When I’m suffering from analysis paralysis, I ask the opinions of everyone I know. I seek professional advice. I query Google and ChatGPT. Finally, I make a decision.

And then I second guess it.

That has been the story of my life for the past two weeks. Choosing my subtitle and cover design—which I thought would be fun—was actually grueling. If you read last week’s post, you may be thinking I already chose a subtitle. Yes, I did. Then I didn’t. It’s the curse of indecision!

But, I finally decided! And it’s time for the big reveal!

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🥁 Drumroll, please…

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Presenting…

After all my indecision, I’m happy with the result. I hope you like it too. More importantly, I hope it piques your curiosity so you’ll pick up the book.

Because the real magic happens under that cover. In Empty-Nest Joyride I reflect on the challenges, struggles, blessings, and joys of life with a full nest, and the transition to an empty one.

The journey of raising kids and then letting them go is filled with twists, turns, and bumps in the road. But having hope, love, and purpose will help us find the road to contentment (hence, the new subtitle).

It’s safe to say my anxiety over the subtitle stems from perfectionism. I’ve always wanted to get things just right, and I worry too much about others’ opinions.

I’m afraid I’ve passed that gene on to to one of my children. And even though I can relate to how she’s feeling in her anxious moments, I don’t always have a solution for her.

If you’d like to hear more about the parenting missteps and lessons I’ve learned in communicating with my anxious child/young adult, tune in to this episode of the Midlife Momma podcast with Pamela Henkleman.

Pamela and I chat for twenty-ish minutes about ways to communicate with an anxious young adult. Although I have no ground-breaking new methods for treating anxiety, I do share honestly about my experience as a mom who’s still learning as I go. Pamela is a spunky, sweet, and wise host, whose tips on midlife marriage and parenting come from a Christian point of view. I hope you’ll listen in!

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My grandson—like me—attempting to launch!

Are you interested in joining the Empty-Nest Joyride book launch team?

I’m hoping to get several of my biggest fans (and curious bystanders) to join me in getting the word out around the book’s release.

What’s a launch team? Tbh, I’ve never run one before, so (like my grandson) I might weave and wobble, but with your help, I’ll soon be exclaiming “I did it!”

I’ve got some ideas which I’ll share in next week’s newsletter, so stay tuned! There’s no need to commit now, but if you think you might be interested, send me an email, drop a comment below, or DM me in the Substack Chat.

Thanks for considering!