Tag Archives: starting over

Here’s to New Beginnings!

As 2012 is coming to a close, I have had some time to reflect on the happenings of the year. It has been a year of many ups and downs. I’ve gained eternal friends, loved and lost, struggled and triumphed, and learned more about myself than I ever imagined possible. I am not the same woman I was at the beginning of the year. I have gained so much strength throughout the continuing trials of divorce. I have grown into a better woman and a better mother. While this may not have been a perfect year, it was certainly one … Continue reading →

Man Sells His Life on Ebay after Divorce

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The ending of marriage is difficult no doubt. The break-up is even harder if it was provoked by your mate and undesired by you. People deal with break-ups and divorces in all different ways. Some people get angry while others are upset and depressed. I have heard of people moving to different parts of the country and changing jobs and even hairstyles after a break-up. However, until now, I have never heard of anyone who actually sold his or her life. After his divorce a year ago, 44 year old Ian Usher from Australia decided that everything about him and … Continue reading →

Starting Over 101

It is common knowledge that many of us single parents have been or are in the midst of starting over. But, what does that actually mean? Just because we know that what used to be is no more and that we need to build a new life, does not necessarily mean that we know what to do. Here are a few tips for getting down to the basics of starting over… 1. Let Go…you cannot start a new life or even move in a new direction until you let go of the old. This means any clinging, clutching, or resistance … Continue reading →

Re-grouping

The best-laid plans…I wrote earlier about helping children set goals and helping them learn how to become self-motivated in their life pursuits, so I thought it would be fair if I talk a bit about the flip side of things–when plans go awry, goals change, and it becomes necessary to re-group… If I had a dollar for every time I have found myself saying, “Alright, we’ll just have to try something else” in my parenting “career” I could spend a month-long vacation basking in the warm suns of Tahiti. Instead, I find that even though you would think I have … Continue reading →

At the Bottom?

There may come a point in your financial life when you are barely making ends meet. You are quite literally living paycheck to paycheck and possibly charging the difference and watching your credit card balance go. You do not know what to do or how to change the situation, but you know that you can’t go on this way. Here are five things to consider in this situation. 1) Can you cut anything else out of your budget? Generally the answer is yes. You can cut your food bill down. You can cut out cable or trips to the store. … Continue reading →

Coming to Peace With the Past

While holding on to the past is a pretty common theme for single parents–and it can take us a while to let go of guilt, anger, disillusionment, etc.–coming to peace with the past and learning to let go and live in the present really is the healthy thing we can do. It is the healthiest things for our families, for ourselves, and for our futures. Someone once told me that I would know when I had fully recovered from a painful past when I could actually be “grateful” for it. Now, at the time, I thought that was the craziest … Continue reading →

Revisions and Do-Overs

I make a big chunk of my living from writing work. Of course, I would love to make more but since I am gradually building my freelance business, I’m fairly content and it works well with my role and responsibilities as a single mom. One of the realities of writing is that you always have the opportunity to do another draft, make revisions, or start completely from scratch. It seems to me that revisions and do-overs are a great metaphor for the life of a single parent as well–after all, isn’t that what rebuilding our lives as single parent families … Continue reading →