Divorce Happens

How to Rebuild Self-Trust and Find Joy After Leaving a Toxic Marriage

Sammie DeMarco drove 800 miles through the night to start her life over. A relationship and mindset coach with Sammie Rose Coaching and a Fresh Starts expert, Sammie had

Hey Olivia, how do I explain coercive control to my divorce lawyer?

“I don’t know how to explain it to anyone, let alone my divorce lawyer.” That’s the line at the center of this week’s Hey Olivia letter, from a listener living with coer

Sexual Coercion in Marriage: The Signs, the Power Dynamic, and the Way Out with Divorce Coach Lisa Happ

She says yes so he'll stop. So he'll be kinder to the kids tonight. So the house will be quiet for a few days. And then she lies awake wondering if this is just what marr

Hey Olivia, how do I let go of the shame and begin trusting myself again to rebuild from scratch after a long marriage?

“From the outside, I had everything. On the inside, I was disappearing.” This week's Hey Olivia letter comes from someone who walked away from a long marriage and a lif

Hey Olivia, my husband is leaving after an affair and I'm terrified of my future. What do I do?

“I don't want to have to be here, but I don't know where else to turn.” That's how this week's Hey Olivia letter begins, and if you've been blindsided by divorce, you m

Hey Olivia, how do I make a divorce registry when I've never asked for help?

“I rarely asked anyone for help in my life, and I think that's what scares me the most.” That line from this week's Hey Olivia letter stopped me. The listener who wrote

Hey Olivia, is it normal to feel like your whole social circle shifted overnight?

“I looked around at a dinner with 'my people' recently, the friend group I'd had for over a decade, and realized none of them were actually there for me during my divorce

Hey Olivia, how do I make peace with people not being who I thought they were?

"I always assumed my college best friends, the four of us who swore we'd be there for each other no matter what, would be in my corner no matter what happened in my marri

Hey Olivia, how do I stop keeping score of who picked his side?

"Some of our mutual friends have clearly chosen his side since the divorce, still inviting him to game nights, tagging him in photos I wasn't asked to. I've caught myself

Hey Olivia, how do I ask for space without hurting the person who actually showed up for me?

"My sister has been showing up for me nonstop since my divorce, texting every morning and every night, asking if I'm okay a hundred times a week until the question itself

Hey Olivia, how do I let people actually show up for me during my divorce?

"Every time someone checks in on me since my divorce, I feel guilty for needing it. I keep saying 'I'm fine' even when I'm sitting on my kitchen floor crying five minutes

Hey Olivia, do I reach out one more time to my best friend who went quiet, or let it go?

"My best friend of 15 years went quiet on me the second she found out I was getting divorced. No fight, no falling out, she just stopped texting back." In this Hey Oliv

Hey Olivia, how do I explain to my divorce lawyer that I've been doing everything?

"Does it matter that I've been doing everything? Or am I going to sound like I'm just complaining?" That's the question at the heart of this week's Hey Olivia letter, a

Hey Olivia, our daughter was stillborn and we're separating. What do we do with her nursery, and who decides?

"I can't lose any more of her. What do we do, and who decides?" This week's Hey Olivia letter is a really tender one, and I read it slowly. It comes from a parent whose

The Paperwork After the Paperwork: What No One Tells You About Divorce Finances

Your divorce decree is signed, and you assume the money part is done. Then the loose threads start showing up: the beneficiary you never changed, the deed still in both n

You're Not Meant to Do Divorce Alone: How to Build Community When You Need It Most with Monique Alexander

Monique Alexander has never believed we can exist in this world without community. Not the most famous people, not the most successful, and not anyone going through a div

A Divorce Without Court? How Family Law Arbitration Works with SOLAGREE Founder Amanda Mason

After more than 20 years as a divorce attorney, Amanda Mason calls herself a "recovering divorce attorney." She spent those years watching families get "absolutely tortur

What Is a High Conflict Divorce, and How Do You Avoid One? With Family Law Attorney Christina White

One parent wants to keep the Social Security cards at their house. The other says no. And suddenly a question that will matter a handful of times in a child's life is a l

The Divorce Is Final, So Why Don't You Feel Better? Divorce Recovery with Leah Marie Mazur

The papers are signed. The ink is dry. And somehow you still don't feel better. Olivia Howell remembers that moment exactly: standing in her marital house, thinking she h

Will Divorce Ruin My Kids? How to Rewrite the Stories You Tell Yourself with Divorce Coach Lyerly Spongberg

"I'm not strong enough to be a single mom." That was the story Olivia Howell told herself when her marriage was ending, and it felt like a fact. Most people going through