For most people, getting married is one of the happiest days of their lives. So what does life look like when something you thought would make you happy ends in a way you didn’t anticipate? While almost no one enters into a marriage knowing it will end in divorce, it’s not an uncommon place to find yourself. Whether or not you were the one who initiated your divorce, you might be left feeling a variety of emotions from sad and grieving to happy and relieved. All of these emotions are normal and it’s important to work through them as you discover what life is like after your divorce.
Process Your Emotions
You may have been the one to initiate your divorce and you may have felt confident it was 100 percent what you wanted. Regardless, you may feel grief over the loss of your relationship, even if it’s simply what the relationship represented to you. After a divorce, it’s important to stop and examine how you’re feeling. Some people find they are able to process their emotions through journaling, painting, exercise, or therapy. Whatever you think would help you best process your feelings, don’t be afraid to let yourself feel how you feel. Ultimately, it will help you get to a place of understanding yourself and what you need to move on.
Rediscover Yourself
Divorce is often the result of an unhealthy marriage. Having endured a marriage where you may not have been thriving can take a toll on you — emotionally, physically, and mentally. Once your divorce is finalized, you may not know who you are anymore. Now is the perfect time to determine the things you like, dislike, and what you want your future to look like. Maybe you’ve always wanted to take a cooking class or join a gym, but you never had the time or the confidence to try. Now that you’ve made it through one of the most challenging times in your life, you can now explore even more uncharted territory and learn or relearn what makes you truly happy.
Embrace Your New Normal
Your life most likely looked a lot different pre-divorce than it does now. This can leave some people feeling off-balance and unsure of how to move on. While it’s more than ok to mourn going to bed alone or not having a go-to person for trying a new restaurant with, you can take this opportunity for yourself to create a new routine you wouldn’t have tried previously. If going to bed alone is making you sadder than you anticipated, add something to your nightly routine you can look forward to such as 15 minutes of uninterrupted at-home spa time or watching a show your spouse never would have watched with you. These little things will help you deal with the newness of your routine while making it more enjoyable.
Life after divorce will look different for each individual. The good news is, there are ways to make the transition easier on yourself. If you’ve been looking for a divorce lawyer in Denver, the team at Petrelli Previtera, LLC will walk through the process with you.
Reach out to us now to learn more about your options.