The importance of family support

Getting divorced can feel very lonely. There’s a stigma about it. There are people who disagree with you. Sometimes these are the people who you love the most and it can feel very hurtful to feel unsupported.

As if it wasn’t challenging enough to change your own world so dramatically, to go back to being single after having been a couple, to deal with your own fears and feelings of failure an inadequacy, those who decide to initiate a divorce also have to deal with managing other people’s expectations, even comforting them about their own divorce.

I love my family beyond words. Having felt profoundly loved as a child and been told that I can do anything I set my mind to were the best gifts they could have given me. But the second best was how well they supported me through my divorce.

I remember calling mom to tell her, crying and struggling to find words. I finally managed to articulate “I’m getting divorced” and on the other side, I heard “I see. I’m sorry honey. What can we do to help?”

Think about this when someone you love tells you that they’re getting divorced. Don’t voice your own disappointment, especially if you’re family, especially if you weren’t expecting it. You don’t know what people are going through. Show your support, remove your judgment, listen. They will appreciate it.