You may have experienced “empty nest syndrome” yourself or seen it happen to your parents. It’s one of those unavoidable moments in a parent’s life when the last of their children has left the home to strike out on their own.

Empty nest syndrome may seem like a silly thing to worry about, but it can hit as hard as menopause, male midlife crisis or a death in the family. In fact, it’s the polar opposite of the sandwich phase when the sheer number of things to do creates overwhelm, now it’s the lack thereof that creates symptoms similar to retiring from work into the retirement void.

Men traditionally tend to work the same job for a long time, maybe with the odd promotion, but rarely involving a drastic change of direction or vocation. This leaves them particularly vulnerable at two points in life: when the midlife crisis hits, and when they retire from their job.

Midlife crisis is usually hits in the late 40s, when men start to wonder if they are ready to do the same thing for another 20 years or so. When retirement hits, the regular daily structure suddenly falls away, leaving a black hole that is hard to fill, particularly if his life had been focused on nothing but work for decades.