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The
Basic Steps To Recovering From A Divorce (by:
Author Unknown)
When you've been the "victim" of a divorce, the first
thing you MUST UNDERSTAND and BEGIN BELIEVING is that
YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF IT- Regardless of
how badly you feel, you must realize that it has happened
to millions of people before you; it is happening to countless
people every day; and it will continue to happen to millions
of people so long as there is love, marriage and divorce.
Although you may never have felt such pain in your life
before, YOU WILL GET OVER IT. It takes time, but you will
recover and find love again. It's imperative that you
understand this, and believe it, even if you have to write
it in big letters on your bedroom mirror, type it out
on a 3 x 5 card you carry with you in your wallet, or
say it aloud to yourself every hour on the hour.
You must at the same time, understand that people suffering
from divorce go through certain predictable phases of
thinking and acting as they begin to recover. In order
to cope with the insecurity, uncertainty, and emotional
damage you've suffered, you should understand that it's
only natural that you go through each of these phases,
and that as a result, you will again be a happy person.
Perhaps the second hardest thing the person who has been
"victimized" in a divorce has to do is let go. It's vitally
important that you immediately let go of the other person;
realize that the marriage is over, and begin setting your
own life in order.
Of course all of this is much easier said or written than
done, but these things you must do, and you must do them
- or get started on them - immediately. You've got to
think about yourself - finding some sort of work with
which to support yourself, and maybe your kids; writing
out a plan for the management of your money; figuring
out your transportation needs; and what you're going to
do to fill your spare time.
You cannot allow yourself to just sit and waste away!
You've got to take hold of yourself and go on living!
You can do it, and you must! The best way is to busy yourself
with all the planning you've got to do, and all the things
you've got to do to make those plans pan out. Sit down
with paper and pencil immediately, look at your situation
as it really exists, and lay out a "road map" of things
that you're going to have to do in order to survive.
In the meantime, the pain will still be there but you've
got to keep forcing yourself not to think about it or
dwell upon what was yesterday. The more you think about
the past - what went wrong and why it happened to you
- the worse it's going to hurt, and the longer it'll take
for you to recover.
What has happened to you can be likened to a cut on your
hand: It hurts, and you bleed, but you wash it off, perhaps
apply some medication, then a bandage and allow time as
well as the healing processes of the human system to make
it all well again. So it is with the dissolution of a
marriage, but the bottom line is still: You must cure
yourself of the hurt before you can be happy again.
You're going to feel lonely, lost and deserted. You're
going to grieve. You are going to mourn the loss of your
loved one. You're going to deny that it's over, and think
of it as a bad dream. You may fall into a state of deep
depression and pretend that it's only a game that will
soon end.
In order to counter these feelings, you must try to keep
yourself busy - cleaning the house, washing your car,
writing out a budget, studying and/or working - you must
force yourself to "keep moving and working" on the kinds
of things that make you self-sufficient as well as a person
that can hold his or her head up in any crowd or situation.
You're going to become so angry that you'll want to do
things "just to spite" your lost loved one. Women in particular,
have a difficult time coping with the anger phase. They
become bitter because of the rejection they feel, the
abandonment, and what they consider the lack of honesty
on the part of their former husbands. It manifests itself
as a result of final property settlements and child support
agreements. They sometimes withhold visitation rights
with the children in order to punish or get their point
across.
You must understand that anger is the process of projecting
onto another person, your own sense of hurt and frustration.
Anger is a natural feeling in a stressful situation. Regardless
of how it's done, you must express the feelings of anger
you're carrying or they'll "eat you alive!" The important
thing is to understand that it's a natural feeling as
a result of a divorce, and that you have to let these
feelings out - get rid of them - before you can truly
go on to become a happy person. The best way to deal with
anger is to know precisely what you're angry about - write
it down on paper - and then pick the most appropriate
method as well as time, to express your anger to the person
that has made you angry.
Another phase you'll be going through is one of all-consuming
guilt feelings. If I hadn't of, or if I had done this
or that differently, or if only I had been a little more
understanding. The more you dwell upon this kind of thinking,
the deeper you'll fall into the trap of self-martyrdom
which allows you to think of yourself as a loser, a failure,
and not deserving of happiness.
You must drive those feelings of guilt from your mind
as quickly as they appear! Simply tell yourself that it
didn't work out; it's over, and you've got to things to
do in order to survive. Understand and believe that you
will recover; then plan what you're going to do, and start
moving in that direction.
Still another phase you'll experience, is one of reconciliation.
This is when the victim calls the lost loved one on the
phone or writes letters, expressing undying love - acceptance
of all the blame for the divorce - and promising to change
to fit the needs and demands of the other person. This
is when the victim disregards all his or her own needs
and reaches out for the other person without pride.
Remember this: If your lost loved one does not want you,
then you must cease to worry about him or her. You must
take hold of yourself - your own ambitions for happiness
and the kind of love you want - and first plan how you
can attain these things, and then set about towards the
eventual achievement of these goals.
You must forget about your ex-husband or ex-wife just
as quickly as you possibly can! You must immediately see
yourself as someone who's self-supporting and the only
person on the face of this earth with the final say about
how happy you can be. Difficult, yes - but the sooner
you realize this and take charge of your own life, the
sooner "what once was" will be forgotten and You'll find
happiness again.
No one should throw themselves at the mercy of someone
who doesn't want them. Each and every human being in this
world is ruled by personal pride in himself. To "give
up" one's pride is to give up one's life. Compromises
and promises to make changes - followed by sincere efforts
to do so are necessary to the ability of "couples" to
get along with each other. But to disregard one's personal
pride, is to become a non-entity.
The final phase you'll be going through will be one of
acceptance. This is when you are no longer bothered by
thoughts of your lost loved one all day long; when you're
able to talk about him or her without a tug at your heart,
and when you've accepted the fact that your marriage is
really over: This is when you say to yourself that if
he or she doesn't want me, than I don't want him or her.
This is when you've got a handle on what you have to do
in order to rebuild your life and get on with it, and
you're doing just that!
As human beings, all of us have a brain. Because each
of us has a brain, we all have feelings that manifest
themselves emotionally in one form or another. No one
is perfect, and thus, though we usually try with everything
we've got to handle our problems with expertise, we usually
fall down at least once or twice along the way. It's important
to understand one's self as a human being, and to try
to get a handle on our ambitions for true happiness -
but if we should fall down along the way, we have to pick
ourselves up and try again. This is likened to a baby
learning to walk - he may take a small step or two, and
then fall down, but unless he picks himself up and tries
again, he'll never learn to walk.
Don't be afraid of being alone! Think about your own ambitions,
and the kind of happiness you'd like to enjoy. Remember
that loneliness, boredom and unhappiness are indeed, self-induced
- determine that you want to be happy and then reach for
it with all you've got!!!
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