Latest / Pursuit of Sassiness / The S*** That Comes with Divorce and How To Deal
Transcript
- 0:14Speaker 1: Hey guys, it's Jana Kramer, one of your hosts of
- 0:16Speaker 1: I Do Part two, and we're back with part two
- 0:19Speaker 1: of our chat with some amazing content creators and their
- 0:24Speaker 1: journey through divorce. They've got such great advice, so let's
- 0:28Speaker 1: jump back in. Next up, we've got Sheila.
- 0:31Speaker 2: Hi, Jannah, how are you Hi?
- 0:33Speaker 1: I'm good. How are you doing?
- 0:34Speaker 3: Good?
- 0:35Speaker 2: Good?
- 0:36Speaker 1: I love your Instagram. I was watching your videos and
- 0:40Speaker 1: one where you're just like the perks of being divorced,
- 0:43Speaker 1: because I feel like a lot of I mean a
- 0:46Speaker 1: lot of the stuff that I've done was like crying
- 0:48Speaker 1: and like sad and then like and then you find healing,
- 0:50Speaker 1: but you're like, you made it so funny where you're
- 0:52Speaker 1: just like I don't have to clean up beard hair
- 0:55Speaker 1: and I you know, the trash is empty and I
- 0:57Speaker 1: don't and I was just like, yes, girl, like all
- 1:00Speaker 1: all of that, the enjoying that singleness of living in
- 1:05Speaker 1: your own space and not having to like, yeah, just
- 1:10Speaker 1: highlighting that and I love that.
- 1:12Speaker 3: Thank you. It did not always start that way when
- 1:15Speaker 3: I sure, yeah, first had my separation, I had my
- 1:19Speaker 3: sad girl face, you know, eating chocolate, crying.
- 1:22Speaker 4: Watching the Barbie movie.
- 1:23Speaker 2: Actually that got me.
- 1:26Speaker 3: Yeah, And so it started that way, and I had
- 1:30Speaker 3: a lot of self blame that I had to work
- 1:32Speaker 3: through that kept me from actually embracing the fact that
- 1:35Speaker 3: this is a new start and this is like a
- 1:38Speaker 3: time for me to rediscover myself. So I have definitely progressed.
- 1:43Speaker 3: We're all in that phase. But now I definitely hope
- 1:47Speaker 3: to be that light to women, to show that, hey,
- 1:50Speaker 3: there's happiness in this. You're gonna go through a lot
- 1:52Speaker 3: of dark a lot of hard times, but there's gonna
- 1:55Speaker 3: be a little happy moments and you should embrace those
- 1:58Speaker 3: as they come.
- 1:59Speaker 1: So, yeah, did you do anything new to your house?
- 2:02Speaker 1: Because I remember when I got divorced, I sold all
- 2:04Speaker 1: the ring and the diamonds and there wasn't many, but like,
- 2:07Speaker 1: you know, like there was a few, and I got
- 2:11Speaker 1: all new furniture and I was just like, I wanted
- 2:13Speaker 1: to make the space how you know, it would be
- 2:16Speaker 1: best fit for me and the kiddos, And it was
- 2:18Speaker 1: the best revamping that the whole energy of the house.
- 2:22Speaker 3: Yes, so I actually ended up moving into a different place,
- 2:25Speaker 3: so I didn't stay in the house that we were
- 2:27Speaker 3: married in. But immediately I have girly ties. I don't
- 2:33Speaker 3: know what the word is for. That made my house
- 2:35Speaker 3: very feminine. There's lots of flowers, there's lots of pink,
- 2:39Speaker 3: and I just was like, I want to come home
- 2:41Speaker 3: and I want to feel like happy to be in
- 2:44Speaker 3: a space. I want to have a reading book, I
- 2:46Speaker 3: want this, And it was like any dream I had
- 2:48Speaker 3: in my head. I was like, I'm going to make
- 2:50Speaker 3: it happen. And it's funny because I have a son.
- 2:53Speaker 3: I have a three year old son, so it's not just.
- 2:54Speaker 2: A girl house.
- 2:55Speaker 3: I like to say it's girl house, but there's a
- 2:57Speaker 3: boy room in the house. And he had to love
- 3:00Speaker 3: the pink room and everything. You know, he's young, so
- 3:03Speaker 3: he thinks it's lots of fun. But other than that,
- 3:06Speaker 3: I've just really embraced my style, learning about it, doing
- 3:09Speaker 3: fun things that you normally wouldn't do in a house
- 3:12Speaker 3: that would be like a marital home. So yeah, just
- 3:15Speaker 3: kind of exploring, trying things that I never would have
- 3:18Speaker 3: probably put in a house that I knew, you know,
- 3:20Speaker 3: having a grown man live in, I would never do that.
- 3:24Speaker 3: So I experimented a lot and added a lot of
- 3:27Speaker 3: things that made it feel like I would be happy
- 3:30Speaker 3: to come home to or relax in and it was
- 3:32Speaker 3: kind of my safe space.
- 3:33Speaker 1: So yeah, no, for sure, I love that. What is
- 3:36Speaker 1: something that you've learned about yourself through the is divorce
- 3:41Speaker 1: now or because you said separated at one point, so
- 3:43Speaker 1: is it? Are you still through the process or so?
- 3:46Speaker 3: Yeah, our process has taken a while in September of
- 3:51Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, so we're going on over a year
- 3:55Speaker 3: of the separation process. So yeah, it should be ending.
- 4:00Speaker 3: But through that process I did learn a lot. In
- 4:05Speaker 3: the beginning. One of the best things that I learned
- 4:08Speaker 3: was I was having a lot of self blame. I
- 4:11Speaker 3: was the one that initiated the divorce. We have a kid,
- 4:13Speaker 3: and so I put a lot of that shame onto
- 4:15Speaker 3: myself and I immediately got in therapy, which is the
- 4:18Speaker 3: best thing anyone can do going through the situation. And
- 4:22Speaker 3: what I learned there was to have empathy for myself
- 4:26Speaker 3: and that to ask myself what did I not know
- 4:29Speaker 3: or what skills did I not have coming into the
- 4:32Speaker 3: marriage that now I can have now that I can
- 4:35Speaker 3: learn and work on, which helped me empathize with myself.
- 4:39Speaker 3: And then once I broke through the being down blaming myself,
- 4:44Speaker 3: then I hit this phase where I was like, look
- 4:47Speaker 3: at all this time I have now that I was
- 4:49Speaker 3: investing in another person, in trying to save a marriage
- 4:54Speaker 3: that wasn't working. All this time that I have, you know,
- 4:58Speaker 3: I've already spent a lot of time with my kid.
- 5:00Speaker 3: What can I do with this time? And I put
- 5:02Speaker 3: it back into myself and that was a big unlock.
- 5:05Speaker 3: I started learning so much about myself, experiencing so many
- 5:09Speaker 3: different things, and I started a fitness journey and I started,
- 5:13Speaker 3: you know, just like doing things I never would have tried,
- 5:16Speaker 3: and I learned a lot about who I was. So
- 5:19Speaker 3: there's definitely a lot that you'll you'll have so many
- 5:24Speaker 3: phases after separation, but the best phase is when you're
- 5:28Speaker 3: willing to be a little more selfish and willing to
- 5:30Speaker 3: reinvest that time back into yourself because it's really going
- 5:34Speaker 3: to help you also protect your peace through that time.
- 5:36Speaker 1: And it's rediscovering yourself too, and like, what what do
- 5:40Speaker 1: you want? You know, what do you want to be
- 5:43Speaker 1: doing right now? And you know, I love that And
- 5:45Speaker 1: that's one of my favorite pieces of my divorce too,
- 5:48Speaker 1: was going to therapy and having that healing journey and
- 5:53Speaker 1: truly figuring out, you know who I am and what
- 5:56Speaker 1: I want and what I want for the future. And
- 5:59Speaker 1: have you started dating or do you have to wait
- 6:01Speaker 1: until after the separation.
- 6:02Speaker 3: I did start dating. Yeah, and my ex is dating
- 6:05Speaker 3: as well.
- 6:06Speaker 1: Okay, great.
- 6:07Speaker 3: Yeah, dating is like it feels like a rodeo when
- 6:12Speaker 3: you've been in a marriage for a while, you haven't
- 6:15Speaker 3: dated in a long time, and it feels like so
- 6:18Speaker 3: uncomfortable at first, because I know at the beginning, I
- 6:22Speaker 3: was putting so much pressure on it and I felt
- 6:26Speaker 3: like I couldn't mess up in the dating process. I
- 6:29Speaker 3: had to be so careful. I was so highly critical
- 6:33Speaker 3: and I approached it and I wasn't having any fun.
- 6:35Speaker 3: It was like it was I was like, why am
- 6:37Speaker 3: I doing this to myself? And also I just had
- 6:41Speaker 3: to learn what is dating again? Because I've been playing wife,
- 6:46Speaker 3: I've been playing mom and like to shift into almost
- 6:50Speaker 3: feeling like a teenager again or young again and dating.
- 6:53Speaker 3: It's a weird thing. But yeah, I have started dating again.
- 6:58Speaker 3: I do have a boyfriend actually, eh outing last year,
- 7:03Speaker 3: and you know, there's a lot of duds out there.
- 7:06Speaker 3: There's a lot of people that you're not gonna mesh with,
- 7:09Speaker 3: but yeah, there is potential to find someone out there.
- 7:12Speaker 1: Yeah, and I always tell my divorce friends too, and
- 7:14Speaker 1: this is something that someone told me when I was
- 7:17Speaker 1: you know, dating, it's all gathering information. So it's like
- 7:21Speaker 1: the next the first person that you go ot with
- 7:22Speaker 1: most likely isn't going to be the one that you marry,
- 7:25Speaker 1: and then one after that it's probably not going to
- 7:26Speaker 1: be the one too. But each one you gather information
- 7:29Speaker 1: about what you like, whatch you don't like, and then
- 7:32Speaker 1: within it then you start molding like Okay, I don't
- 7:35Speaker 1: like that. Okay, we're done. That's I'm not going to
- 7:36Speaker 1: continue on with trying to put you in this puzzle
- 7:40Speaker 1: piece that you're not going to ever fit in. And
- 7:43Speaker 1: you know, I think there's so much that you learn
- 7:45Speaker 1: about yourself through that process too, like, oh yeah, I
- 7:48Speaker 1: don't know how I was attracted to that back in
- 7:50Speaker 1: the day, but I'm definitely not now and that's not
- 7:53Speaker 1: the type. Okay, we're going to move this way now.
- 7:55Speaker 1: And it's just like every every date, every time you
- 7:58Speaker 1: meet someone, it's just the information and how do you feel.
- 8:02Speaker 1: You know, at the end of the night, you know,
- 8:05Speaker 1: you just keep one on other date? Cool? If not,
- 8:07Speaker 1: you'll know, you know, I was new second date, like
- 8:09Speaker 1: I'd maybe like I'll give you like one more date. Yeah,
- 8:12Speaker 1: and it's like new.
- 8:13Speaker 3: Love that did you ever struggle with? I had a
- 8:16Speaker 3: big click through my dating process that I felt like
- 8:20Speaker 3: I was being interviewed and I had to show, okay everything.
- 8:26Speaker 1: So my therapist told me the best tip I ever
- 8:28Speaker 1: got and she goes, Janna and because it was this
- 8:31Speaker 1: guy that I was kind of hung up on that
- 8:32Speaker 1: I was dating, and she goes, would you please stop
- 8:35Speaker 1: putting yourself on trial? She's like, you are the judge.
- 8:39Speaker 1: They are on trial. She's like, you are being like
- 8:42Speaker 1: am I Am I good enough? Am I this? It's
- 8:44Speaker 1: She's like no, She's like are they good enough? Do
- 8:46Speaker 1: they fit your pieces? Do they you know, fit the
- 8:50Speaker 1: box of this, that and the other. She's like, you
- 8:52Speaker 1: are the judge. You are putting them on trial. You're
- 8:55Speaker 1: not on trial. And I was like, okay, I love that.
- 8:58Speaker 3: Great when I locked that that like, I'm not the
- 9:02Speaker 3: one being interviewed in a way, I'm interviewing them. Do
- 9:05Speaker 3: I want my life? And hostly, if I do want
- 9:08Speaker 3: them in my life, they'll want that back. But you
- 9:11Speaker 3: can't control that.
- 9:12Speaker 1: No, But I think that comes a lot to the
- 9:15Speaker 1: piece for me, Like I was always like I my
- 9:18Speaker 1: core wound was like I'm not good enough, so I
- 9:20Speaker 1: want them to choose me. And I had to flip
- 9:22Speaker 1: that script when I got divorced to go, no, I
- 9:25Speaker 1: choose myself and I'm going to choose them, like they
- 9:28Speaker 1: don't they get they get to you know, like love
- 9:30Speaker 1: me if I choose them? You know, yes?
- 9:33Speaker 3: And I think that ties back into the being more selfish.
- 9:36Speaker 3: You truly love yourself and you know what you bring
- 9:39Speaker 3: you're not. You come into these situations and you think,
- 9:43Speaker 3: what what can you add to my life? Because you're
- 9:45Speaker 3: not going to add chaos to the piece you've just created.
- 9:48Speaker 4: You're not going to.
- 9:49Speaker 3: Add something into your life that's going to destroy what
- 9:51Speaker 3: the bubble you've created for yourself. So the self love,
- 9:55Speaker 3: the selfishness, it unlocked a lot for me in dating,
- 9:58Speaker 3: and I could tell the quality of men that I
- 10:02Speaker 3: was dating and encountering was just continuing to increase as
- 10:06Speaker 3: I continued to love myself more.
- 10:09Speaker 1: Yeah, and I will say if you if because I
- 10:11Speaker 1: saw this, if you after divorces, if you're dating kind
- 10:15Speaker 1: of the same men, you still have to do the
- 10:17Speaker 1: work on yourself, because yes, there's something Anya that's wanting, uh,
- 10:23Speaker 1: that hasn't healed yet if you're going to if you're
- 10:26Speaker 1: still attracting that same type of person.
- 10:28Speaker 3: Yes, that is so funny that you say that the
- 10:31Speaker 3: people I dated prior to my marriage nothing like the
- 10:35Speaker 3: people that I have dated posts marriage. It's very interesting
- 10:40Speaker 3: the differences. Back in the day, I was dating a
- 10:42Speaker 3: lot of blue collar, very like manly men, you know,
- 10:46Speaker 3: the stereotypes. And now I have found you know, I
- 10:50Speaker 3: work my own stay at home, or I work a
- 10:53Speaker 3: remote job, I work in corporate, and I actually do
- 10:57Speaker 3: better with men who also work in corporate or work
- 11:00Speaker 3: jobs very similar who can talk to me about work.
- 11:04Speaker 3: I love that type of banter. So it was very interesting.
- 11:08Speaker 3: And also a lot of my old dating preferences relied
- 11:11Speaker 3: on unhealed wounds of things that I had encountered in
- 11:15Speaker 3: my childhood and therapy. Before marriage, I thought, you know,
- 11:20Speaker 3: therapy is for people who really need help. So not true,
- 11:24Speaker 3: So not true. Now I am such a huge therapy
- 11:27Speaker 3: advocate and it really does help in the dating process
- 11:30Speaker 3: to have someone to talk to.
- 11:32Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent agree. Where can our listeners find you?
- 11:35Speaker 1: You're a sweetheart.
- 11:36Speaker 3: Yes TikToker Instagram, Facebook as well, Sheila M. Harrington, I
- 11:41Speaker 3: would love if you gave me a follow. It's a
- 11:44Speaker 3: girl party on my page, celebrate.
- 11:46Speaker 1: I love it being single again, Barbie World, Let's do this. Okay,
- 11:52Speaker 1: thanks girl, great chatting?
- 11:53Speaker 4: Yes, thank you?
- 11:54Speaker 1: All right by Henny. Next up, we've got Melinda Long.
- 12:09Speaker 1: I'm here, Hey Melinda. I was watching your video and
- 12:13Speaker 1: it's it was so timely because I was making an
- 12:18Speaker 1: album of my daughter because she's about to turn ten,
- 12:22Speaker 1: and I was watching some old videos when I was
- 12:25Speaker 1: still married to max husband, and I'm watching these videos
- 12:29Speaker 1: and I'm like, how was I married to him? And
- 12:33Speaker 1: I'm like who who is he? And then I'm like
- 12:36Speaker 1: and then I'm watching her Instagram and I was like
- 12:37Speaker 1: I literally just had that same feeling of but like
- 12:42Speaker 1: we have two kids together and and like how And
- 12:45Speaker 1: I'm watching these videos and I'm like, wait that we
- 12:48Speaker 1: live together and that was my husband.
- 12:50Speaker 2: Sometimes I'll be at a game and my ex will
- 12:53Speaker 2: walk in and I'm like, oh I know. I'm oh,
- 12:55Speaker 2: wait that was married to him, Like you genuinely have
- 12:58Speaker 2: this this this weird like fe I just never expected
- 13:01Speaker 2: to feel that way in the midst of everything, and
- 13:03Speaker 2: now I'm like, this is somebody I slept in bed
- 13:06Speaker 2: with every night and I told my deepest, darkest secrets
- 13:08Speaker 2: and there are strangers sitting over there, and I don't
- 13:10Speaker 2: even even feel much of anything, you.
- 13:12Speaker 1: Know, I know. And that's the craziest piece, because like
- 13:15Speaker 1: the same when I see him at a volleyball game
- 13:17Speaker 1: or whatever, when he comes over, I'm just like, I mean,
- 13:21Speaker 1: there's this zero feeling and I'm like hot, how like
- 13:24Speaker 1: we have two kids and we were married for these
- 13:26Speaker 1: many years.
- 13:27Speaker 2: And but I also look and I think to myself,
- 13:31Speaker 2: like I terrible to say, what was I thinking?
- 13:33Speaker 1: Yeah, totally I'm not attracted to him.
- 13:35Speaker 2: Yeah, like is everybody else in the room thinking the
- 13:37Speaker 2: same thing? I Am like, what were you do?
- 13:40Speaker 3: You know?
- 13:40Speaker 2: And it's just like still a little I said it,
- 13:43Speaker 2: this little ick factor. I'm sure he has the same feelings.
- 13:45Speaker 1: For me, totally. I'm sure my laugh and my voice
- 13:49Speaker 1: and my like the heck out of him, you know.
- 13:51Speaker 1: But I mean my husband now, yeah, he's like I
- 13:55Speaker 1: don't ever see guys together. I was like, no, same, Like,
- 13:57Speaker 1: I don't know how.
- 13:59Speaker 2: But I also am thankful for that because could you
- 14:01Speaker 2: imagine if you still had those feelings like when you
- 14:03Speaker 2: saw the person like that, you had this longing still
- 14:06Speaker 2: or this like I still wish I don't have, so
- 14:08Speaker 2: maybe I'm really thankful that that didn't happen to me.
- 14:11Speaker 1: That's where I always go to when they say like,
- 14:13Speaker 1: I'll always love you, and I'm like, but will you?
- 14:16Speaker 2: Because I mean, it's okay, we have we have love
- 14:19Speaker 2: for our kids, like I think. I think the only
- 14:21Speaker 2: thing is like I'm always thankful for that moment because
- 14:25Speaker 2: of the three blessings that I have from it, and
- 14:28Speaker 2: I know I gave it my own. I know it
- 14:29Speaker 2: was a space. So we'll be able to move past
- 14:31Speaker 2: that and thank goodness, I don't still have that longing.
- 14:34Speaker 4: Like, yeah, I always still gonna love me.
- 14:36Speaker 1: So you were married for twenty years, right, okay, And
- 14:39Speaker 1: so I think my mom really struggled because she I
- 14:43Speaker 1: believe she was married to my dad a little over
- 14:45Speaker 1: fifteen years, and I remember that being the thing for
- 14:47Speaker 1: her that was I might have even been funny, gosh,
- 14:51Speaker 1: I can't remember now, but yeah, no, it was definitely long.
- 14:54Speaker 1: Oh no, it was twenty plus. Yeah, where she was
- 14:56Speaker 1: just like I don't know anything different, you know, and
- 14:59Speaker 1: I don't don't even know who I am because I
- 15:01Speaker 1: dated him when I was so young, like in my
- 15:04Speaker 1: early twenties nineteen, you know, and so.
- 15:07Speaker 2: You know that is your identity.
- 15:09Speaker 1: Yeah, Like she was just like even changing. She's like,
- 15:12Speaker 1: I've been a Kramer longer than I was a Kaufman.
- 15:14Speaker 3: You know.
- 15:16Speaker 2: Now you walked, I would say that was the hardest
- 15:18Speaker 2: part is accepting that that it's no longer my identity.
- 15:22Speaker 2: I'm no longer a wife, We're no longer that picture
- 15:25Speaker 2: perfect happy family that we put out there, you know,
- 15:28Speaker 2: you put this image out there. And also you know,
- 15:30Speaker 2: for my kids where this it is a process. I
- 15:35Speaker 2: should share that along the way, I lost one hundred
- 15:38Speaker 2: and twenty pounds before I got file for divorce. So
- 15:41Speaker 2: I had this kind of giant life shift of my
- 15:43Speaker 2: appearance at the same time as my marriage falling apart,
- 15:47Speaker 2: which I thought it would have brought us together, but
- 15:49Speaker 2: it brought us apart.
- 15:49Speaker 1: Did you get fit to try to keep him? Is
- 15:52Speaker 1: that was that the no?
- 15:53Speaker 2: I got I got fit after COVID, I got fit
- 15:56Speaker 2: after losing my father. I got fit after realizing that
- 16:00Speaker 2: my health was really taking a toll and I need
- 16:02Speaker 2: to be here for a long time. But perhaps in
- 16:04Speaker 2: that journey, I also started to realize that maybe some
- 16:08Speaker 2: of the food and some of that was a mask
- 16:10Speaker 2: for other issues that were going on, and maybe gave
- 16:14Speaker 2: me a little more confidence to do what to finally
- 16:17Speaker 2: file for divorce. Actually I filed for divorce twice. I
- 16:19Speaker 2: went through the second time. I dropped it the first time.
- 16:22Speaker 2: But that change was the thing I was most scared of.
- 16:26Speaker 2: That was the hardest part. I really didn't have an identity.
- 16:30Speaker 2: Everything was wrapped up in my life, my family, and
- 16:33Speaker 2: my kids were getting older. I have two in college
- 16:34Speaker 2: and one in high school now. So that's been the
- 16:37Speaker 2: biggest struggle, and I think that a lot of sleep
- 16:41Speaker 2: lost in it, but also a lot of growth, a
- 16:43Speaker 2: lot of personal growth, and a lot of finding myself.
- 16:46Speaker 2: I've really taken to fitness. I've always loved to cook.
- 16:48Speaker 2: I still love to cook. I've been able to travel
- 16:50Speaker 2: a little bit more, and honestly, I've connected with my
- 16:54Speaker 2: kids in a whole different way that I did was
- 16:57Speaker 2: possible back in the middle of the divorce. They respect
- 17:01Speaker 2: me more. I think now, watching my own personal journey
- 17:05Speaker 2: and me doing what was right and what was right
- 17:08Speaker 2: for our family. But one hundred percent think that that
- 17:10Speaker 2: is the scariest part, and I think that helped me back.
- 17:12Speaker 2: It's the reason that I dropped the first time of divorce.
- 17:15Speaker 2: It's that fear.
- 17:17Speaker 1: Well, and because what age were you when you finally filed?
- 17:21Speaker 2: I'm forty nine now would it be fifty this year?
- 17:24Speaker 2: I guess I was forty six when I filed.
- 17:26Speaker 1: Forty six, Yeah, and that's a that's a tough age
- 17:29Speaker 1: to go. Okay, you know, what is this? What does
- 17:31Speaker 1: this look like? But there's also gosh, I know so
- 17:33Speaker 1: many women that have had such beautiful Like my one
- 17:39Speaker 1: girlfriend's fifteen, just got married, you know what I mean,
- 17:42Speaker 1: Like she's the happiest she's ever been. So it's like,
- 17:44Speaker 1: don't stay because you're afraid to not be with someone
- 17:47Speaker 1: for the next part of your life, because we have
- 17:50Speaker 1: so if you think about it, you have another at
- 17:53Speaker 1: least forty years, you know, that's a lot of life.
- 17:56Speaker 2: Yeah, And there's and there's love out there. I mean
- 17:58Speaker 2: I've had love at the second time around. There is
- 18:00Speaker 2: love out there, and it's different, and you know, I
- 18:03Speaker 2: just don't think I realized that that was a possibility
- 18:07Speaker 2: that to feel a certain fulfillment and to have a
- 18:09Speaker 2: connection with somebody that's like that, it is possible and
- 18:14Speaker 2: it is real. I think I settled for what I
- 18:17Speaker 2: thought was real because in my twenties, I was supposed
- 18:19Speaker 2: to get married, and I was supposed to have kids,
- 18:21Speaker 2: and I was supposed to live a certain life.
- 18:23Speaker 4: And while I.
- 18:23Speaker 2: Certainly did love my husband, it wasn't the connection that
- 18:27Speaker 2: I found later on, or that I realized exists. And
- 18:31Speaker 2: life gets in front of you.
- 18:33Speaker 4: But you're right.
- 18:34Speaker 2: I'm forty nine, I'm going to be fifty this year.
- 18:35Speaker 2: There's a lot of life left. And I certainly, in
- 18:39Speaker 2: no way, shape or form, wanted to get divorced, nor
- 18:41Speaker 2: did I picture myself ever here in a million years.
- 18:44Speaker 2: But now that I'm here, I'm not disappointed with the
- 18:47Speaker 2: life that I'm living, and I'm realizing that there's so
- 18:49Speaker 2: much more to live. And yes, there is love, second
- 18:52Speaker 2: time around, third time around, whatever it might be for everybody.
- 18:55Speaker 1: Have you found that love?
- 18:56Speaker 3: I have? I have?
- 18:57Speaker 1: Oh, look at you? Did you find that love? Where
- 19:01Speaker 1: did you find it?
- 19:01Speaker 2: Companionship through a friend who was going through the same
- 19:05Speaker 2: as myself. He's awesome, my personal trainer. So it's very cliche.
- 19:08Speaker 2: Oh hey girl, but friendship, companionship, going through the same thing,
- 19:14Speaker 2: feeling at the same age.
- 19:16Speaker 1: What do you think the craziest part of divorce that
- 19:18Speaker 1: no one talks about?
- 19:20Speaker 2: Literally how you can feel this tremendous immense hatred, bitterness,
- 19:25Speaker 2: all this and then two years later and you're looking like,
- 19:28Speaker 2: what was I so afraid of? Yes, why was this
- 19:31Speaker 2: so scary? What was I It's really the what was
- 19:35Speaker 2: I thinking? There's so much more to life, and there's
- 19:37Speaker 2: there's I'm not wearing a scarlet letter. I thought I
- 19:39Speaker 2: was wearing a scarlet letter and that's shame. That was
- 19:42Speaker 2: the biggest shot for me.
- 19:43Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 19:43Speaker 1: My therapist would always say, what's the worst thing, Like,
- 19:46Speaker 1: what is your biggest fear? If you get divorced? And
- 19:49Speaker 1: I'm like, well, and then I'm alone, and she goes
- 19:50Speaker 1: and then what, well, then you know no one loved me.
- 19:54Speaker 1: And then she's like okay, and then what you know
- 19:55Speaker 1: and she's just like but then we go to the positive.
- 19:58Speaker 1: It's like, your kids are good and you're okay, and
- 20:02Speaker 1: so it's the worst thing that can happen is really
- 20:05Speaker 1: not the kids is the other.
- 20:06Speaker 2: Big piece, I think, especially for women, I don't want
- 20:08Speaker 2: to say not for men, but especially for women. As mothers,
- 20:11Speaker 2: we want to be the perfect mom and we want
- 20:13Speaker 2: to get this perfect family, and we want to give
- 20:15Speaker 2: them this marriage that they can look up to. And
- 20:18Speaker 2: I felt a real responsibility to make that work for
- 20:21Speaker 2: my kids. And I laugh now because my kids look
- 20:23Speaker 2: at me like, who were you fooling? We knew it
- 20:26Speaker 2: wasn't good and we couldn't wait for it to be over,
- 20:29Speaker 2: but in the moment, you really feel a responsibility, and
- 20:33Speaker 2: that was the biggest hurdle. I think that was really
- 20:36Speaker 2: the reason I struggled to go to the next level.
- 20:39Speaker 1: So do you think your advice for someone getting divorced
- 20:41Speaker 1: now is just, I mean, give it some time, like
- 20:45Speaker 1: because you're not going to have that same anger in
- 20:50Speaker 1: a couple of years.
- 20:51Speaker 2: You have to, yes, give it time, because everything is temporary.
- 20:55Speaker 2: You have to know in your heart that you gave
- 20:58Speaker 2: it your all, that you tried everything, that you didn't
- 21:01Speaker 2: walk away in a fight, that you didn't walk away
- 21:04Speaker 2: for your own selfish reasons, that you really gave it all.
- 21:08Speaker 2: And once you know you've done that, you have to
- 21:11Speaker 2: stick to your guns and know that you have to
- 21:14Speaker 2: do better for yourself or your family, for your children,
- 21:16Speaker 2: and ride it through because there's it's not going to
- 21:18Speaker 2: fix itself. If you've given it all, it's it's just
- 21:21Speaker 2: not going to fix itself.
- 21:22Speaker 1: Yep, agree with you one hundred percent on that. I
- 21:24Speaker 1: always said I walk away when I know that I
- 21:27Speaker 1: did everything that I could to try to stay, that
- 21:30Speaker 1: leaving is the only option I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
- 21:32Speaker 1: And then then then I got mad at myself that
- 21:34Speaker 1: I stayed that long. But at least I can say, Okay,
- 21:37Speaker 1: I did, I did every step I could.
- 21:40Speaker 2: I feel confident that I did everything I could. Now
- 21:44Speaker 2: I'm in the stage of a couple of years later
- 21:46Speaker 2: of forgiving myself for allowing myself to go through things
- 21:49Speaker 2: I shouldn't have been, letting my kids see things they
- 21:51Speaker 2: shouldn't have. So now I'm in that forgiveness stage. But
- 21:53Speaker 2: I'd rather have that knowing that I didn't walk away
- 21:58Speaker 2: without giving it my all.
- 22:00Speaker 1: Yeah. Forgiving yourself is uh, it was harder than forgiving them,
- 22:04Speaker 1: is what my journey was.
- 22:05Speaker 2: I agree. I'm feeling that a bit now, you know,
- 22:07Speaker 2: coming up on this fiftieth year and in a new relationship,
- 22:10Speaker 2: I really have to work on that piece because if
- 22:12Speaker 2: you carry those pieces into your future relationships and into
- 22:16Speaker 2: your family and being the good role model, I really
- 22:19Speaker 2: have to work on that healing journey. So that's the
- 22:21Speaker 2: part that I'm finding comes a little bit later. But
- 22:24Speaker 2: I'm thankful for that journey because I'm.
- 22:26Speaker 1: Sort of Linda. How can we follow along in that journey?
- 22:28Speaker 1: Where can our listeners find you?
- 22:30Speaker 2: I know I don't stop talking.
- 22:31Speaker 1: I apologize, but I love it.
- 22:33Speaker 2: I'm on Instagram. My Instagram handle is gritten Glow Underscore
- 22:37Speaker 2: by mel I share my health, my fitness, my divorce journey,
- 22:40Speaker 2: and my completely chaotic life with my with my kids.
- 22:42Speaker 1: So thank you love it so much. Well, thank you
- 22:45Speaker 1: for joining I do part two and we look forward
- 22:47Speaker 1: to watching your journey.
- 22:49Speaker 2: Right, so nice to meet you.
- 22:50Speaker 1: Thank by Honey Seya. And last up we've got Ashley. Hi,
- 23:04Speaker 1: hey girl, Well you look beautiful for being pulled over
- 23:07Speaker 1: on the side of the road just leaving court with
- 23:09Speaker 1: your exta girl. We caught you in a time.
- 23:13Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, the worst time but the best time
- 23:15Speaker 4: also because you know, the life could not be better
- 23:19Speaker 4: on this side of things.
- 23:20Speaker 1: Okay, So I was watching her Instagram, which I love,
- 23:23Speaker 1: and but one of the things, the tip that you
- 23:25Speaker 1: were giving about the phone number, I had no idea
- 23:27Speaker 1: that was even it. Why would he want your number?
- 23:31Speaker 1: I was so confused. Can you just like tell the
- 23:33Speaker 1: listeners like a little and is this why you were
- 23:35Speaker 1: in court? I was just I'm so confused. I'm like, please,
- 23:38Speaker 1: I need to understand this, Like, this is her phone number?
- 23:41Speaker 4: What? So I've had this phone number since I was
- 23:44Speaker 4: fifteen sixteen, like twenty years. It's a pre marital asset.
- 23:49Speaker 4: But when we got married, my dad released the number
- 23:52Speaker 4: two you know, for us to join accounts, right, and
- 23:56Speaker 4: so yeah, he paid for the phone number. He had
- 23:59Speaker 4: the phone number, but it's still my phone number that
- 24:01Speaker 4: I used with both of my businesses. It's the emergency
- 24:04Speaker 4: contact at my son's school, Arsun School. And he basically
- 24:09Speaker 4: told me in June that I needed to get my
- 24:11Speaker 4: own line. So I did that. I created my own account.
- 24:14Speaker 4: Apparently he is now claiming that that was fraudulent. So
- 24:18Speaker 4: T Mobile granted him the phone number back to his account,
- 24:21Speaker 4: even though I was paying my own bill for three months.
- 24:25Speaker 4: I was paying my own bill on my own T
- 24:26Speaker 4: Mobile account, and so he has had control over my
- 24:29Speaker 4: phone number since September hasn't turned it off. I'm still
- 24:34Speaker 4: able to use this phone number. But yeah, so ended
- 24:38Speaker 4: up having to take him to court because he won't
- 24:40Speaker 4: release the line to me even though it is premarital,
- 24:43Speaker 4: it's attached to my businesses, which he relinquished his rights to.
- 24:46Speaker 4: So we're just waiting, honestly, for the judge to come
- 24:49Speaker 4: down with her judgment whether or not I can keep
- 24:51Speaker 4: it or not.
- 24:52Speaker 1: What was the sense from the judge? Were you feeling
- 24:55Speaker 1: hopeful or was she giving you.
- 24:57Speaker 4: I'm optimistic because she just kept looking at him like
- 25:01Speaker 4: are you because she kept asking him why do you
- 25:03Speaker 4: want the phone number? And he couldn't give a reason.
- 25:05Speaker 4: He's like, it's my property. That's the only reason why
- 25:08Speaker 4: he you know, he is claiming that this is his
- 25:11Speaker 4: phone number, it's my property. Honestly, he's probably just going
- 25:13Speaker 4: to turn it off the minute he gets it back,
- 25:15Speaker 4: so he doesn't really want it for a purpose. So
- 25:17Speaker 4: I'm hoping that she kind of takes that into consideration,
- 25:20Speaker 4: that this is livelihood versus just being vindictive and petty.
- 25:25Speaker 1: So, I mean, can we say yay, you're not married
- 25:28Speaker 1: to him anymore?
- 25:29Speaker 3: Yo?
- 25:30Speaker 4: My lawyer today was like, I can't believe you were
- 25:32Speaker 4: married to him. She's like he is he is slimy,
- 25:36Speaker 4: he is like even during mediation when we went through
- 25:39Speaker 4: our divorce mediation, the initial offer that we put on
- 25:42Speaker 4: the table at ten thirty am is the offer that
- 25:45Speaker 4: he ended up accepting at six thirty pm. But he
- 25:49Speaker 4: pushed it out so that way we would have to
- 25:50Speaker 4: pay that whole time. I mean, we ended up we
- 25:54Speaker 4: were in mediation for yeah, over ten hours.
- 25:56Speaker 1: Isn't that hard to like? You know, I felt that
- 25:59Speaker 1: same thing where it's like, why was my judgment or
- 26:02Speaker 1: how is my judgment? How was I so fooled there?
- 26:05Speaker 1: It's to allow this to happen and then stay in
- 26:10Speaker 1: it and be with someone like that.
- 26:14Speaker 4: And I wasn't even the one who filed for divorce.
- 26:17Speaker 4: He filed for divorce from me when I was actually
- 26:20Speaker 4: I was in California with our son, visiting family in
- 26:23Speaker 4: Santa Barbara for my step uh my stepmom's dad's birthday.
- 26:28Speaker 4: I came back, he had packed his stuff, moved out,
- 26:31Speaker 4: brought me out in front of the ring camera, so
- 26:32Speaker 4: he had it documented that he was leaving me, that
- 26:36Speaker 4: he had filed for divorce, that we were going to
- 26:38Speaker 4: be doing two two three custody and I should be
- 26:41Speaker 4: getting served any day now. Did he have a reason
- 26:44Speaker 4: we had Nope. We had no conversation. He never sat
- 26:47Speaker 4: me down. He just filed and left. And then about
- 26:51Speaker 4: six weeks later he wanted to reconcile, and I was like,
- 26:54Speaker 4: you know what, I've been asking for therapy for six years,
- 26:58Speaker 4: Let's try going to therapy if you're putting it on
- 27:00Speaker 4: the table. Now now that it's his idea, We're going
- 27:02Speaker 4: to go to therapy. And we did therapy for about
- 27:05Speaker 4: six weeks and I just had a gut feeling that
- 27:09Speaker 4: I can't do this for the rest of my life.
- 27:11Speaker 4: This is not going to work. And then a week
- 27:13Speaker 4: later I received our financial affidavit and found that he
- 27:18Speaker 4: was hiding money from me. Meanwhile, I'm working three jobs
- 27:21Speaker 4: trying to keep us afloat. He chose not to work
- 27:23Speaker 4: for years, and that money could have literally saved saved us,
- 27:30Speaker 4: saved me so much stress, and I it was like boom,
- 27:35Speaker 4: boom boom. I knew I was done at that point
- 27:38Speaker 4: because this was the final betrayal, This was the final
- 27:41Speaker 4: thing that the nail in the coffin essentially.
- 27:44Speaker 1: Mm hmm. So how does how do you now walk
- 27:47Speaker 1: through everything that you know? Because you seem like a
- 27:51Speaker 1: very strong, put together woman. Are you letting the what
- 27:54Speaker 1: you know to be the truth statements come in your
- 27:57Speaker 1: head or are you like, where are you at in that?
- 28:00Speaker 4: I know the truth? I know my truth. I know
- 28:03Speaker 4: that I did everything in my power. I had been
- 28:05Speaker 4: asking for therapy for years. I had addressed, you know,
- 28:09Speaker 4: issues that I you know, I went to therapy by
- 28:11Speaker 4: myself because at one point, I really he had me
- 28:14Speaker 4: convinced that I was the problem. I went to therapy
- 28:16Speaker 4: by myself and he would never come to join, even
- 28:19Speaker 4: though my therapist was like, we would love to have
- 28:21Speaker 4: him bring his perspective to the table so that way
- 28:23Speaker 4: we were not like just saying that you're you know,
- 28:27Speaker 4: he's doing these things. And I never wanted it to
- 28:29Speaker 4: be like a he he he. It was. It's mutual, right,
- 28:32Speaker 4: A marriage is mutual. I know that I'm not a
- 28:34Speaker 4: perfect person. I know that he's not a perfect person.
- 28:36Speaker 4: But the fact that he would never meet me at
- 28:37Speaker 4: the table to get help, you know, that is the
- 28:40Speaker 4: truth that I hold on to, that I tried for years,
- 28:43Speaker 4: that I did everything in my power to try and
- 28:46Speaker 4: make this work, and then just to have him essentially
- 28:51Speaker 4: walk out two weeks before Christmas and with no no conversation,
- 28:57Speaker 4: no discussion, no nothing, and then just continuously being vindictive
- 29:02Speaker 4: at every turn. I mean, the phone number is just
- 29:05Speaker 4: like the tip of the iceberg of just you know,
- 29:07Speaker 4: the behavior that is being exhibited and you know, trying
- 29:11Speaker 4: to be a productive co parent. He wanted the divorce.
- 29:14Speaker 4: You know, you don't really hear about too many women
- 29:17Speaker 4: paying child support. I pay him child support.
- 29:20Speaker 1: I pay sixty percent.
- 29:21Speaker 4: I pay sixty percent of our child's expenses, even though
- 29:24Speaker 4: we have fifty to fifty custody.
- 29:26Speaker 3: You know.
- 29:28Speaker 4: The fact that I'm giving, giving, giving, and he's consistently
- 29:32Speaker 4: still wanting to take, take, take, It's hurtful. And this
- 29:37Speaker 4: taking of my phone number, the only person that really
- 29:39Speaker 4: hurts is our son. Because if I lose the ability
- 29:42Speaker 4: to make money, like if people can't reach my business,
- 29:47Speaker 4: what does that do to our son? This is the
- 29:49Speaker 4: only phone number that he has memorized. What does that
- 29:52Speaker 4: do if he's in an emergency situation. He's not gonna
- 29:55Speaker 4: automatically remember a new number. You know, thankfully he has
- 29:58Speaker 4: his number memorized. But I think that that's the whole point, right,
- 30:00Speaker 4: He's like, I want to be the primary parent, I
- 30:02Speaker 4: want to be the primary contact. And it's like, but
- 30:05Speaker 4: you just started showing up now that we're divorced.
- 30:08Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's that feeling of someone taking, Like I
- 30:11Speaker 1: get that. That's how I felt in my entire last marriage,
- 30:14Speaker 1: is just always wanting to take, take, take, And you know,
- 30:18Speaker 1: I think there's going to be a place I've and
- 30:20Speaker 1: I through therapy, I was able to let that anger
- 30:24Speaker 1: go in time.
- 30:25Speaker 3: Like.
- 30:25Speaker 1: It still comes up a few times, but mostly I've
- 30:29Speaker 1: been able to keep that anger at bay, just because
- 30:33Speaker 1: you know, there's nothing I can do about it. I
- 30:36Speaker 1: can either stay angry or I can just go. This
- 30:40Speaker 1: is unfortunately the way of the courts at the moment,
- 30:43Speaker 1: and this is who he is and I can't change that.
- 30:46Speaker 1: I'm not going to be like, hey, can you take
- 30:48Speaker 1: care of the kids since you only have them eight
- 30:49Speaker 1: days a month? You know, and do I do I
- 30:51Speaker 1: have to pay you this pop amount for you know?
- 30:53Speaker 1: But it's he'll never get my point. He doesn't see
- 30:56Speaker 1: it as taking. He sees it as well, it's just
- 30:59Speaker 1: the way the court.
- 30:59Speaker 4: You know, the way the cookie crumbles, and yeah, and
- 31:02Speaker 4: I hold no resentment, right, I'm like, you gave me
- 31:05Speaker 4: my son, you gave me like the person that I
- 31:08Speaker 4: love the most in my life. You know, I'm in
- 31:10Speaker 4: a new relationship that is that makes me extremely happy.
- 31:14Speaker 4: I see. I don't I never reminisce, and I don't
- 31:18Speaker 4: live in the past. I really, like I said, I
- 31:20Speaker 4: don't hold resentment. The only things that I hold are like,
- 31:24Speaker 4: what is the purpose of this? Why are we behaving
- 31:27Speaker 4: this way? Why are you treating me this way when
- 31:30Speaker 4: this is exactly what you wanted. You wanted this divorce,
- 31:34Speaker 4: you asked for it. All I did was follow through
- 31:36Speaker 4: with it. You know, he I think he has deep regret.
- 31:39Speaker 4: I think he thought that he was going to file
- 31:41Speaker 4: for divorce and that I was going to be like, no,
- 31:42Speaker 4: please don't leave me, like I needed that. But it's
- 31:45Speaker 4: like I was already primary parent, I was already the
- 31:48Speaker 4: breadwinner of the family. I was already doing my own thing.
- 31:51Speaker 4: I lost during the last three years of our marriage.
- 31:53Speaker 4: I lost one hundred and ten pounds, got plastic surgery,
- 31:56Speaker 4: really got my health back on track, and there was
- 32:00Speaker 4: really just there was no there was no tether, there
- 32:04Speaker 4: was no codependence, there was no, there was none of that.
- 32:08Speaker 4: And so you know, when I started posting, I hesitated
- 32:12Speaker 4: posting on social media about my divorce because I was like,
- 32:16Speaker 4: you know, it's really nobody's business. But then when this
- 32:21Speaker 4: whole phone number thing happened, I was like, but what
- 32:23Speaker 4: if other women don't know? What if they don't know
- 32:26Speaker 4: to ask or their phone number. What if they don't
- 32:28Speaker 4: know that they can put this in their parenting plan
- 32:30Speaker 4: that they can bring it to the table. What if
- 32:32Speaker 4: they don't know? I feel like, you know, we talk
- 32:36Speaker 4: about a village all the time when it comes to
- 32:38Speaker 4: our kids, but what about our village together of like
- 32:40Speaker 4: making sure that we all stay good? And that is
- 32:44Speaker 4: why I like started feeling more comfortable talking about here
- 32:48Speaker 4: are things that I wish I had done. Here are
- 32:50Speaker 4: things that I you know, I regret. Here is you
- 32:53Speaker 4: know what what could come next for you? But I
- 32:57Speaker 4: also want to free women from the thought. I had
- 33:00Speaker 4: a video that is getting a lot of attention right
- 33:03Speaker 4: now about how many women I saw on TikTok the
- 33:06Speaker 4: day after Christmas with nothing in their stalking, nothing under
- 33:09Speaker 4: the tree. And I'm like, so he places no value
- 33:13Speaker 4: on you, He doesn't He can't even take an hour
- 33:16Speaker 4: of time to find something that you would love, to
- 33:19Speaker 4: make sure that you felt important on a day in
- 33:21Speaker 4: which that you made everyone else feel important. Divorce him.
- 33:25Speaker 4: It's not going to change. He doesn't hold he doesn't
- 33:27Speaker 4: hold you in regard. He doesn't hold you, you know,
- 33:31Speaker 4: in anything. And the amount of men in the comments
- 33:34Speaker 4: of that video stating well he paid for Christmas, he's
- 33:39Speaker 4: the one who works.
- 33:40Speaker 1: I can say that's actually not true because in my
- 33:42Speaker 1: last marriage, my stocking was never full and I had
- 33:45Speaker 1: I paid for Christmas, and I'll say my husband, now
- 33:48Speaker 1: my stocking overfills, and I'm like, it's the cutest thing ever.
- 33:52Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh no, it's fine. It's like, no,
- 33:56Speaker 1: he makes it like Santa put the things in the stock,
- 33:59Speaker 1: you know. So I've never been spoiled like that ever,
- 34:03Speaker 1: you know So it's I hear you.
- 34:04Speaker 4: I'm eighty percent of us household women work, women contribute
- 34:08Speaker 4: to the household in addition to the unpaid labor of
- 34:11Speaker 4: being a mother.
- 34:12Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 34:12Speaker 1: Absolutely, Well, I'm excited to see where this whole phone
- 34:17Speaker 1: number thing goes. I want. I've got a good feeling.
- 34:20Speaker 1: Are you going to update us on your social media?
- 34:23Speaker 4: Yes? I will I definitely will keep you guys posto.
- 34:25Speaker 1: Okay, what's your what's your Instagram again for our listeners
- 34:28Speaker 1: to follow along.
- 34:29Speaker 4: It's at bostdence boss F I, D E n C.
- 34:34Speaker 1: Okay, great, Ashley, You're drive safe because I know you're
- 34:37Speaker 1: driving right now, so dodrive safe.
- 34:39Speaker 4: Thank you.
- 34:39Speaker 1: I'm excited for you. I'm excited for your part two.
- 34:42Speaker 1: And it sounds like this was the destiny to have
- 34:47Speaker 1: this part two because you got a beautiful child out
- 34:50Speaker 1: of it, and that's usually what the only redeeming factor
- 34:55Speaker 1: of being with these people are.
- 34:58Speaker 4: Okay, one hundred percent, thank you so much for having me.
- 35:03Speaker 1: Thanks girl, have a good one. Well, thank you ladies
- 35:06Speaker 1: for coming on and sharing all that great advice. Do
- 35:08Speaker 1: you have breakup or divorce tips you want to share
- 35:10Speaker 1: and need some more advice from our crew, We'll call
- 35:13Speaker 1: or email us. All the info is in the show notes.
- 35:15Speaker 1: Follow us on socials. Make sure to rate and review
- 35:18Speaker 1: the podcast. I Do Part two an iHeartRadio podcast where
- 35:21Speaker 1: falling in love is the main objective.