I struggled looking in the mirror for a long time after my ex-husband left. While nothing had changed physically, I had no idea who this woman was staring back at me. My identity had become so wrapped up in being a wife and mother that I honestly didn’t know who I was anymore. I had devoted my life to being just that. Now that I was no longer someone’s wife I didn’t know what to do with myself anymore. Who was this girl staring back at me? I was determined to find out.
About a month after my husband left I started really trying to find myself again. Within a few weeks I had changed majors, switched universities, and began completely reorganizing my life. The old Sarah was dead. I was no longer living to please anyone else. I knew what I wanted for me and my son and I started making a plan to get there. I still felt a little lost without my former identity as a wife, but I liked the woman I was becoming in the meantime.
During my marriage I had let the “real me” slip away. I never took the time to do things that made me happy. I was too concerned about trying to hold everything together that I lost sight of what I really wanted in life. I had set my goals aside and somewhere along the way I got lost. Now that my marriage was no longer holding me back I could find joy in the things I used to do. I was a better mother because I was moving forward and was finding a happiness that I hadn’t felt in years. That’s not to say there weren’t struggles along the way. Being a single parent is far from easy, but it gave me the opportunity to find happiness like I’d never felt before. I finally recognized the face in the mirror, and was proud of the woman she’d become.