Every parent dreams of how their life will be once their kids are grown and have left the house. Often times parents find they aren’t truly prepared for it when the time comes. When there’s no more soccer games to go to, laundry to fold, dinner to cook, parent’s are often left with an overwhelming feeling of loneliness.

Rather than submitting to empty nester syndrome, celebrate your new life by being open to new experiences and relationships. After years of prioritizing life around your children, you can now put yourself first.

Here are 10 reasons you will love having an empty nest:

1. Your time is for you. You’ve spent years of your free time taking care of your children, but now it’s time to take care of you. Forget about sports games, playdates, parties, and school. Don’t feel like cooking dinner? You don’t have to! This is the time for you to do whatever it is you want to do.
2. Whether you are the kind of parent who picks up after the kids or expects them to do it themselves, you no longer have to worry about your home being not staying clean. Teenagers come with books, athletic gear, electronics, and more stuff that tends to get left around. You home will now be as clean as you want it to be.
3. Whether married or single, you can now spend time focusing on your relationships with partners and friends. It’s time to focus on surrounding yourself around positive people that life you up and help you be the best person you can be.
4. The house is finally quiet. Now is your chance to become an avid reader or take late walks around the neighborhood. The chaos around the house between televisions, doors slamming, phone calls, toilets flushing, bickering, has subsided for the most part. You can finally hear yourself think.
5. You can finally go to bed early! From 3am diaper changes to 3am calls for a ride home, kids find ways to keep parents up at night from the minute they are born. This is all a thing of the past now, and you can finally get a good nights rest.
6. Get ready for your bills to go way down! You’d be amazed at how much money you save when your kids move out! From trips to the grocery store to your utility bills, everything decreases.
7. The best part about your kids moving out of your house is that they come back to visit. Whether they’re visiting you once a week or once a month, nothing feels better than your kids coming home. This is the time they get to share with you their own experiences and finally start listening to all that advice you gave them over the years making them appreciate you more. This helps your relationship grow and both of you to evolve into your own person.

If you’re worried about becoming an empty nester, try to looking at it from a different perspective. This is time for you to get back to doing things for you. The distance may actually result in you developing a closer bond with your children. Get ready. This is going to be the best time of your life!