Healing After Divorce

Hurt Because Your Spouse Is Dating During Divorce?

Details: August 19, 2015

Man looking at his ex as he's dating during divorce.

Sometimes all it takes is a small shift in perspective to help you hurt a little less.

When your marriage ends and you start working toward getting divorced, it's not like there's some switch you can flip to stop feeling married or even to unlove your spouse. It's more of a process. And all processes take time to complete. That's why it is so infuriating, humiliating and painful if your spouse starts dating before you're legally divorced, much less before you feel unmarried.

You do have another option. You can learn to put some distance between what they're doing and you. It all starts with changing your thoughts (which, believe it or not, will give you the space you need to allow your feelings to change).

To give you an assist with changing your thoughts, here are some facts for you to consider:

It's all about them - Yup, their behavior is all about them. It's a reflection of how they see the world, who they want to be and what they want to experience.

As painful as it is to make the shift from thinking about you and your spouse as a couple to being individuals, it's part of moving on from the end of your…

Dealing With Divorce Loneliness? Hug Yourself Happy

Details: August 19, 2015

Divorce loneliness can be overwhelming - but it doesn't have to be crippling.

Your divorce will probably be one of the most intense emotional experiences you'll ever face. It sure was for me. I had a full spectrum of extraordinarily strong emotions hit one after another in an often confusing and frightening way. Sound familiar?

The world of divorce can feel like a tornado has come through your life and wiped away all that was familiar and safe. I thought of it as being tied up, blind-folded, and stuffed into the front seat of a runaway roller coaster. I never knew when I was going to be slammed to the left or right by a sharp turn, and I dreaded any slow upward movement, because I knew that at some point, I would drop down into depths I couldn't imagine, be thrown into a loop-de-loop, or even get caught up in a corkscrew.

I'll be honest with you: There were times back then when I thought I might be going insane.

What I've found out since my divorcein 2002 is that the emotions of divorce are intense and change rapidly for most people. These emotions often include everything from denial, fear, hope, anger, loss, guilt,…

The Only Real Shortcut To Healing From Divorce

Details: August 14, 2015

Man walking past a mural of courage as a reminder that's what healing from divorce requires.

All it takes is a bit of courage and determination.

There's very little that's easy about getting divorced. And just about all divorcees are on the lookout for shortcuts so they can move on with their life as quickly as possible and hopefully avoid some of the pain.

The problem is that when it comes to truly healing from your divorce you need to experience the pain so you can free yourself from it.

Yes, you read that correctly. You need to feel the pain so you can be free from it.

But feeling it doesn't mean wallowing or drowning in it. It also doesn't mean beating yourself up with thoughts of what you coulda, shoulda, or woulda done differently. It just means acknowledging the emotion and releasing it.

So how do you acknowledge an emotion and release it? Well, it kinda depends on the emotion.

If you're feeling sad, you might acknowledge and release the sadness by crying or by getting busy and doing something productive. I find that when I'm sad crying helps until I can shift my thoughts toward being appreciative about what I'm sad about. Kinda the whole "every adversity ... carries within it the seed of an equivalent or greater…

Thank You, Pope Francis

Details: August 14, 2015

Pope Francis' statement is too late for me, but I'm OK with that now.

In August 2002, my divorce was final. When the judge signed the decree my immediate reaction was happiness. I thought I was free! I thought I would be happy (finally) because of a little ink on a piece of paper. Oh, the silly things I used to believe...

It didn't take long before I started to feel suffocated by guilt. I was sure that God was going to punish me (by death) for getting divorced AND that I deserved it.

A bit irrational? Maybe. But, seriously, how many people make it through divorce without at least one irrational thought?

For this particular thought though, I had help in coming up with it. You see I was raised pseudo-Catholic.

My parents were both raised Catholic and went to parochial schools. However, outside of the baptisms for my younger siblings and attending funerals, I don't remember us attending church as a family. Despite this, Catholic-ish teachings certainly made it into my psyche and one of those teachings was that if you got divorced, you committed a serious sin. So serious a sin that as a result you weren't allowed to be a part…

Why Your Breakup Hurts SO Much (And How To Start Healing)

Details: May 19, 2015

Knowing WHY you’re hurting can be your first step to getting over it.

Heartbroken. Sometimes that's the only way to describe the tidal waves of grief that come with a breakup.

Ending a relationship with someone or, worse, having someone break up with you causes incredibly painful feelings because of all the losses. You grieve the lost connection with that person. After all, you loved them so much. But let's get real about that. Are you sad because you're not with the person you had a relationship with? OR are you really upset because you're not with the person who you thought your partner was?

If you're like most of us, you're upset to have lost who you thought your partner was. Because, let's face it, if they really were the ideal person for you, you'd still have a relationship.

Being heartbroken also means grieving lost couplehood. It feels good being connected to someone else — to not have to face the world on your own. Yet, breaking up with someone means you're suddenly alone. It's no longer two against the world. It's just you, feeling naked, isolated and afraid.

There's another reason for your fear of being alone. Being alone means that before too long you'll have to…

Hurt Because Your Spouse Is Dating During Divorce?

Dealing With Divorce Loneliness? Hug Yourself Happy

The Only Real Shortcut To Healing From Divorce

Thank You, Pope Francis

Why Your Breakup Hurts SO Much (And How To Start Healing)

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