We frequently write about the numerous challenges that individuals tend to face as they navigate the divorce process. With the aid of experienced family law attorney, many of the logistical and legal challenges can be mitigated. However, many of the practical and emotional challenges that divorce inspires must be largely weathered on one’s own. This can be a particularly daunting process given that divorce can be jarring and can set off a number of frustrating, confusing and disorienting negative emotions that one must deal with while simultaneously dealing with the practical consequences of divorce such as property division and redefining certain personal relationships.
In all of this physical and emotional chaos, it can be easy to lose your way. You may have felt that you were losing your sense of self as your marriage began to feel unhealthy or unmanageable. Unfortunately, the divorce process can heighten this sense of losing one’s most fundamental self. Thankfully, if you approach your divorce process as an opportunity for growth and as a transition from one phase of life to the next, it can actually inspire you to know yourself more fully and to find yourself once again.
When beginning to search out your “self” again after being emotionally drained by the end of your marriage and by the divorce process, it is important to take excellent physical and emotional care of yourself. The occasional ice cream binge is more than justified. However, if you generally take good care of yourself physically and treat yourself kindly on an emotional level, you will place yourself in a better position to make healthy mental breakthroughs.
In addition, it is important to understand that finding yourself again generally takes both time and effort. If you regularly engage in healthy behaviors such as walking alone with your thoughts, journaling and otherwise actively seeking out who you are and what you want, these revelations will generally manifest over time.
Source: The Huffington Post, “7 Ways to Rediscover Who You Are Post-Divorce,” Sherrie Campbell, Sep. 11, 2014