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Divorce doesn't have to be a tragedy if you don't let it be.
By The Good Men Project — Last updated on May 20, 2023
By Arianna Jeret
Divorce can be an excruciating tunnel-vision journey, but divorce is not a tragedy — it is the close of a tragic chapter of your life.
When the papers come stamped from the court and you are officially “free,” something counter-intuitive happens. You feel soaring release, followed by a crash back to Earth, followed by the hollow echo of “Now what?”
I haven’t met anyone who truly regrets their divorce, so the most common question I hear (and find myself asking as well) is this:
“I am honestly thrilled that my marriage ended, so why do I feel so depressed?”
While the answer to “why” varies from person to person, here are 12 simple and effective ways I have found to lift myself, my clients, and my divorced friends, in those moments of the post-divorce blues.
Here are 12 realistic ways to finally get over your divorce once-and-for-all:
1. Speak your truth
In most unhealthy marriages, at some point, one or both of you shut down. You stopped communicating what you really felt — about everything. Now is the time to start stretching those trust muscles. Trust yourself to know what you believe, feel what you feel, and express yourself openly with kindness.
2. Stop acting so surprised
When your ex sends you a nasty message about your parenting, is it really a surprise?
When you realize that a 25-year-old woman was just looking for a few free drinks for herself and friends, is it really a surprise? When the guy who said he will never cheat on anyone again cheats on you, is it really a surprise? You’ve been living in the real world for a while now. Stop feigning surprise and make decisions based on what you can most likely expect.
3. Figure out who you are — for now
The idea that you should take time for yourself before you get involved with anyone else is a false premise (in my mostly-humble opinion).
Our personalities, interests, careers, needs, and wants to stay in constant flux throughout our lifetime. Getting in touch with yourself is not a one-shot deal, but rather a lifetime practice that you will need in times when you are single, and times when you are coupled. Look inward, but don’t keep your nose in there too long or you might get stuck.
4. If the idea excites you, try it
A divorce is one of the single most frightening experiences anyone can endure, and you endured it! (If yours isn’t final, I promise that at some point it will actually be over, impossible as that may seem.)
What could you possibly be afraid of now?
There is a good chance that your marriage didn’t succeed because you entered it seeking to make the “right” choices, rather than the choices that spoke to the core of your soul.
So stop it. Stop looking for the safe, secure, and correct life path, and take on those challenges and opportunities that make you hum with satisfaction and pride.
5. Let it go
Queen Elsa knows what she’s talking about.
I don’t know about you, but there are things about my former marriage that I could still complain about. I can pretty much guarantee that won’t change anything that’s happened — or improve my life in any way at all.
When I think of closure, I imagine my computer’s home screen with a zillion tabs open, making it difficult to find and access the specific tab I need most immediately.
Many of these tabs are open only because I might forget them if I let them drop. When I think about it, I realize that if I never find that closed tab again, I didn’t need it in the first place.
Start closing the tabs in your mind that relate to resentments from your marriage. If you really need them, you can access them later. Most likely, you’ll feel more streamlined and effective.
6. Own your mistakes
And stop owning the mistakes others attempt to cast off on you. I’m sure you’ve heard that women apologize far more often than necessary. In working with divorcing individuals, I find the same is true of men.
Most people who have been on the receiving end of abuse or manipulation have apologized not only for their own less-than-ideal moments but for those of their partner for the sake of keeping — or regaining — the peace.
Owning responsibility for your errors is a crucial part of being a healthy person. Keep that up! But you don’t need to apologize for something that you did not do, say, cause, think, express, or manifest in any other way.
7. Release the idea of staying friends with those who have grown distant
Unfortunately, this urban legend of divorce holds true: once their divorce is final, many people find themselves quickly and silently abandoned by friends they thought would stick by them until the end.
I have yet to understand why, but humans are sometimes nasty animals and your time is far better spent seeking out people who get you than trying to understand those who dropped you when you needed them most.
Allow yourself to mourn the loss, which is often much more painful than the loss of the marriage itself, and accept that you have no power to change anyone else’s lack of empathy, humanity, or reliability.
8. Find a virtual community
It would be ideal if we could snap our fingers and find a local group of brand new friends with plenty of free time to hang out, bond, and play as we set out on the Yellow Brick Road of life as a divorced single. Unfortunately, real life makes it hard to find a new, solid group of local friends once your kids are past elementary school age without an extremely concerted effort.
In the more immediate present, make the most of social media and Internet-based opportunities to reconnect with old friends, meet and chat with others in the same life stage, and share discussions based on your interests.
From there you will not only meet some amazing people you would otherwise never have encountered, you will likely think of new local connections as well.
9. Figure out what makes you laugh and do that
For me, it is Louis CK, ridiculous YouTube videos, silly memes, and — strange as it seems even to me — some of my kids’ favorite TV shows. Do you know what hits your personal funny bone? Watch, read, or do it A LOT.
10. Cut it out about being SO old
OMG. If I hear one more person in their 40’s or 50’s tell me “I’m just soooo old now,” I may just flip my junk. We are not old people! Keep telling yourself that, and you will become so. Keep telling others you are, and they will believe so. I would prefer to stay young and be seen that way. Trite as it sounds, this one actually is a state of mind.
11. Date! Have sex! Get out there
You may not ever want to get married again. You may not feel you can trust yourself, let alone anyone else, but so what? What’s the worst that could happen to you next? Another divorce? OK. We chose to end an unhealthy marriage so that we could lead a more healthy and satisfying life.
We are social beings, and even the introverts among us do best with at least some human contact — both physical and emotional — with others. I wish it were possible to find love and companionship without risking getting hurt, but I haven’t figured out how to make that so.
Men can hurt you. Women can hurt you. Children can hurt you. Lovers, friends, business associates, strangers — we are all walking potential land mines. Bummer, I know, but oh well. Staying alone in your shell is never going to change any of that or make it better, but finding some good friends — and maybe even a life partner — can sure make it all feel a lot more worthwhile.
12. Allow yourself your feelings. Just not 24/7/365
A client recently told me her therapist reminds her frequently to “Stop being a Debbie Downer and be a Penny Positive instead!” I may appear cynical, but I almost tossed my non-fat latte.
Whether you were the one to file for divorce or the one who didn’t want it, no one gets through even the most amicable divorce unscathed emotionally. If you stuff down your despair all the time and for everyone, including yourself, you will leave your emotions with nowhere to go other than headed toward Complete Melt-Down Road.
Just don’t let yourself feel it all the time or you spiral down farther than you ever could have imagined it possible to go. When you find yourself over-thinking, over-napping, or over-Netflixing, accept your real need to rest your emotional energy, and give yourself reasonable parameters for how long you will let yourself veg out before you make yourself get up and do at least one productive activity.
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Deputy Editor Arianna Jeret, M.A., M.S.W., has been featured in Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post, Yahoo Style, Fox News, Bustle, and more.