132 | Emotionally Drained After the Holidays—Grounding Meditation for Sandwich Generation Moms

The holiday is over, but you're still emotionally spinning—replaying moments, feeling the whiplash of joy and grief, unable to fully land back in regular life. If you witnessed your parent's decline while celebrating your kids' milestones, you're not just tired—you're emotionally exhausted in a way that regular rest won't fix.

In this deeply restorative episode, you'll discover why meditation isn't "woo-woo" but an essential recovery mechanism for your nervous system after emotionally intense experiences. You'll learn the science behind why your body needs this reset. And you'll practice a powerful grounding meditation paired with a finger-touch technique to bring your emotional pendulum back to center.

Here's what you'll experience:

• Understanding why holidays create emotional whiplash that lingers days later—especially when witnessing two life stages simultaneously
• The science-backed reason meditation activates your parasympathetic nervous system (your body's natural "rest and digest" mode) to recover from stress
• A guided grounding meditation using the pendulum metaphor to slow the emotional swings
• The ancient finger-touch counting technique ("Stillness is within me") that provides a physical anchor for your scattered mind

"Your nervous system needs recovery time after emotional intensity. Meditation isn't optional—it's how you complete the stress cycle."

Press play to stop spinning and return to your center—because you can't move forward until you've processed what just happened.

If you’re interested in learning more of Valerie’s writing on her blog, check out ‘Oh, Hello Midlife’. And if you sign up for the newsletter, as a thank you, we’ll send you the “10 Min. Calm Kit for Sandwich Generation Moms.” It includes three guided sessions for morning, mid-day, and bedtime, so you can find your calm in the chaos.

Learn more on how to release the pressures of Sandwich Generation Stress with episode #121, or through movement in episode #120

You’re listening to the right show, formerly known as the Mindful Life Changes or Mindful Career Change. We’ve pivoted through the years, but finally landed on the right path: content for moms in the ‘Sandwich Generation’, because midlife disruption doesn't have to break you.

New episodes drop on:

• Sundays: 20-min episodes addressing common midlife challenges with practical strategies plus a mindfulness practice (affirmations, mantras, or meditations)
• Wednesdays: Bite-sized episodes to reinforce Sunday's mindfulness technique & reset your week

More from The Mindful Midlife Mom:

Discover Valerie's articles on ohhellomidlife.com or watch her videos on YouTube @ohhellomidlife

This podcast explores patience, meditation, confidence, presence, and overcoming resentment while cultivating calm, peace, mindfulness, clarity, mantras, and addressing loneliness and burn out; it covers boundaries, caregiving, guilt, affirmations, working moms, self-care, midlife crisis, empty nesters, empowerment, people pleasing, compassion fatigue, family caregiving, stress relief, self-worth, stress management, and how to shift from reactive to centered when feeling short tempered, offering tools for self acceptance, easing mental exhaustion, building emotional resilience, harnessing inner strength, and preventing caregiver fatigue for those in the sandwich generation through expert advice on boundaries setting.