5 Things You Don’t Understand About Divorce Until You’ve Lived Through It

I thought I knew about divorce. When I was in elementary school, I weathered my own parents’ divorce, observing their reactions from the sidelines. I felt the loss, the change in family structure. I experienced the strange vacancies of a split – the blank spots on the walls where my dad’s pictures once hung and the empty seat in the family camping van.

I thought I knew about divorce. I read my mom’s seemingly endless supply of self-help books, important resources for her career as a marriage and family therapist. I digested countless case studies and thumbed through endless nuggets of wisdom and advice for an enduring marriage.

I thought I knew about divorce. So I chose a husband that showed me copious amounts of affection and seemed at ease communicating about emotional matters. After we weathered various storms, I was convinced that divorce was something that could never happen to us. Until it did.

I thought I knew about divorce. Until it happened to me. And I realized how little I knew. Because there are some things you only learn about divorce once you’ve lived through it.

1. Divorce Leaves No Stone Unturned

Before living it, I had always viewed divorce as analogous to a friend moving away – there’s the initial loss, the lingering loneliness and the need to fill the newly-formed void. What I neglected to understand is the sheer vastness of the impact of divorce.

It touches everything.

It’s the friend moving away, the home being destroyed by a rogue forest fire and the loss of health and sanity. A stranger jettisoned in a strange land, unable to speak the language. All while you’re losing your closest confidant and doubting your own decisions. And that’s not even addressing the shame of failure and the judgment of others.

Your family is fractured, perhaps alliances formed and relationships severed. Children are unsure and needy or defiant and acting out. Divorce changes your body as the signs of stress show on your face and your appetite is affected by the strain. Your routines alter as they reform around the missing person and even something as innocuous as an evening Netflix show takes on a greater meaning. Your job is impacted as your mind wanders and you have to spend your lunch break emailing your attorney. Your home, if you’re still in it, is at once sanctuary and mausoleum.

Divorce is far more than simply a change in family structure. It’s a reorganization of your entire life. Your entire self. It’s a massive transformation. A time when everything is called into question and nothing is certain.

It’s also an opportunity. A crack in the bedrock allowing a change in course, an alteration of spirit. You can stay at rock bottom. Or you can choose to build.

2. Your Emotions Will Be in Conflict

Your spouse cheats, you’re angry. They leave, you’re sad. They move on with somebody else, you’re jealous. It all seemed so straightforward until I experienced it myself.

When I received the text that ended my first marriage, my first response was disbelief. Then shock. Then concern for him. Followed by blind rage. Then pragmatism took hold. Until the uncontrollable sobbing started.

And that was only the first ten minutes.

The reality of the emotional onslaught is much messier and much less predicable than anyone can imagine. Overwhelming loss enters the ring against an unspoken sense of relief. Blinding rage battles with compassion and a memory of love once shared. Moments of sheer joy rise unexpectedly like the opening of a shaken soda only to be trailed by a sudden jolt of reality.

The reality is that there is no one way you’re supposed to feel. All of these strong and conflicting emotions are normal when enduring divorce. And they’re all valid. It’s possible to hate someone and still miss them. We’re capable of feeling anger and empathy. It’s okay to have moments of bliss even while the tears are still drying on your face.

3. You Cannot Prepare For or Control Everything

If you had asked me prior to my divorce how one should approach the process, I would have been full of pragmatic (and naïve) advice. It seemed pretty clear cut – talk things out with your ex and make decisions that are fair to both, limit the legal counsel sought and seek to be friendly throughout the entire ordeal.

Which is not how things happened.

Throughout the entire divorce process, I felt like a tennis shoe thrown into the washing machine, being tossed about at will and completely submerged in the process. I was accustomed to being in control of my life and my surroundings and the divorce was a rude awakening to how little influence I really had.

You can try to anticipate how you, your ex or your children will respond. You can make plans for how you think the process will proceed. You can spend months researching your options and making informed decisions.

But at the end of the day, you have no control over the outcome and limited skills in predicting the future. And that can be a difficult – yet freeing – truth to accept.

4. Some Days You Will Feel Like a Failure

Even though my rational brain does not interpret divorce as a failure, my emotional self still experiences shame around the end of my own marriage. I find that I am quick to offer the extenuating circumstances that made divorce the only logical solution and absolve me of the bulk of the responsibility.

When I hear people claim that “divorce is not an option,” I feel both angry and foolish that I allowed myself to be put into a situation where it became the only option. Even though it became the best thing that ever happened to me.

No matter your circumstances and your larger feelings surrounding your divorce, there will be days where you feel like a failure, like you’ve been branded as someone who gives up too easily or perhaps doesn’t know how to compromise. Sometimes these feelings spontaneously arise from within and sometimes they’re compounded by external judgment.

Instead of allowing the guilt and shame to tell you you’re a failure, funnel them into learning how you can do better going forward. You’re not a failure for getting divorce; you’re only defeated if you allow it to get the better of you.

5. It Will Be All-Consuming….Until It Isn’t

I kind of feel like I need to send an apology note to everyone I came in contact with during my divorce –

“I’m sorry that I told you way too much of my personal business and probably made you uncomfortable in the process.”

But at the same time, I’m not sorry. It was a brief period where all sense of political correctness and social niceties were shed and real, although brief, connections were formed over my shared intimacies.

For months, my divorce – and my ex’s shenanigans – were my defining characteristics. It was the first thing friends enquired about and the first thing on my mind when I awoke. Everything reminded me of him or what I had lost in the process.

And then a day came where I didn’t think about the divorce, my ex or my losses. And then another day followed shortly after. Instead of being the most important feature in my life, it became simply part of my backstory.

When you’re in the midst of it, divorce feels never ending. Yet eventually, it omnipresence wears thin as it overstays its welcome. New experiences and new people begin to layer new memories atop the old and the pain fades into the distance. Divorce will always be a part of your story, but it will no longer be your defining feature.

Thank you for sharing!

18 thoughts on “5 Things You Don’t Understand About Divorce Until You’ve Lived Through It

  1. I went into the process thinking the Court of Family Law would be fair in looking at the facts. Unfortunately lies are not challenged as long as the lier continues to fight. At some point you need to accept that the legal process is not fair unless you are infinitely wealthy and don’t mind giving a lot of money to your attorney. At some point you will have to accept the lies and cut your financial losses.

    1. I agree and am thoroughly overwhelmed and disappointed. I have very little strength left to fight and my attorney won’t return my calls because I can’t pay anymore but he can. But to accept this, which I can do, I have to give up everything…including my kids. Is this what I have to do because he’s a bully?

    2. That is so true. The family legal system is a joke. It’s a matter of the attorneys pitting the couple against each other so they rack up in their fees. Facts do not matter either. Why any man would want to get married in this day and age is beyond me.

  2. #5 hit home with me for the obvious reason — I’m in the midst right now. It feels like I am stuck in the middle of an enormous, deep pool with no other choice but to tread water. Eventually, I will make to the edge, climb out, shake out my tired limbs, and move on. Daily, I thank God for the strength to keep on treading. Most days I keep my head above water.

    1. I was the one who initiated the breakup. We have the same feelings as those who were left. I never felt like a failure. I was sad, and even tried to reengage over the phone.
      I learned once it’s over, it’s over. Leave it there. Never should have reconnected. After we split I found it about all kinds of manipulations and dishonesty that weren’t even the reasons I left. So obviously I was done. And ready.
      There are two sides, so don’t think that the one who leaves goes unscathed.

  3. I agree. Divorce is something you won’t understand without going through it. And unfortunately, the Family Court system is very much NOT working with the best interest of the child as their primary goal. Rather, their goal is to push couples through the court in the most expedient way possible, to allow them to get to the next couple they are trying to shove through the system. The biggest issue though, is that the judges and attorneys have very little understanding of Cluster B personality disorders–and nearly every case that ends up in the Court system has one partner who is a ‘high conflict individual’–one who struggles with a (likely undiagnosed) Cluster B personality disorder. These are the people who create chaos but are uncannily charming towards judges–charismatic and seemingly convincing, but typically covering up their true selves. Because the other partner is often trying valiantly to protect the children (and are often scared) the judges often misread what’s happening and believe it is this partner who is the problem.

  4. This is such a great post and so true. Thanks for sharing. I wish we didn’t have so much in common, but it helps to be inspired by someone who has walked this path as well.

  5. LeTisha – I am LeTisha Jackson, the oldest of 4 siblings, born and raised in the mid-west. A self-proclaimed "Pageant Girl," in my mid-20's, I would take my love for the limelight to the West Coast in pursuit of the Hollywood dream. Settling into my life in California, I quickly fell in love with the year-long Cali sun, and though I am currently an Arizona resident, I still deem myself a California Girl at heart. Not only did I fall in love with the California lifestyle, there is where I also found the love of my life. Unfortunately, this would not be my "happily ever after," which bring me to writing my now completed non-fiction book, "Woman to Woman: Letters from Wives to Mistresses." Read the current host of posted book excerpts - especially the real-life letters from both wives & mistresses - which will take you along this journey with me, from heartbreak to healing.
    TJ says:

    Oh my God! Rarely am I at a loss for words, but because you said it all (and to perfection I might add), I don’t feel too bad. In my upcoming book, I say that women should build the bonds of loyalty, that we should protect each other’s hearts when it comes to the want of another woman’s husband because “I am you, and you are me.” You made my statement SO true with this post. I felt every single word you expressed here because, as a woman, as a divorced woman…I am you, and clearly, you are me. I will FOR SURE be writing a future blog post that will include a link to this incredible article. You executed the reality of divorce beautifully here. Thank you for sharing your experience, and your heart with us.

    1. Divorce definitely is an experience that unites those that have been through it. I’m glad that you’re using your experience to help others 🙂

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