Maxine is owned by Hallmark but she likes to visit me here

I wouldn’t have ever thought someone would ask me for tips on keeping the household organized during divorce 😉 They obviously don’t know me, right? Well, to be fair I did learn a thing or two about correcting some of my own disorganization during divorce. I guess I am qualified to write this post, after all.

“Courage is found in unlikely places.”-J.R.R Tolkien

Two things you’ll need to make any major change in your life are a shot of courage and a slice of bravery. Actually, before you even begin to make the changes you’ll need to identify and admit to the necessity of that change. That’s where we especially need a shot of courage and that’s only the beginning. The rest is getting from here to where we want to be.

It’s hard being a divorcee. We’re a ONE in a world of twos. It’s downright lonely. Eventually, we want to get our toes in the water and begin dating again. We go onto dating sites with hopes of love. It’s only natural. Next thing you know, we’re in a relationship again. It’s wonderful. It’s exciting and we feel like a teenager again. We’re getting a second chance!

How many of you are best friends or let me re-word that; how many of you are simply friends with your ex? I know it’s quite a concept—yet, I believe many strive for that.  If we can rise above co-parenting conflict and the division of assets there might be a chance. However, from what I’ve seen it’s about a 20% chance of retaining or working toward friendship post

Fear is part of human nature. It’s a necessary emotion designed to keep us from harm. But what about FEAR that holds us back from trying, challenging, leaving, starting, knowing, believing…?  It stops us.

Fear causes doubt and hesitation.  We need to overcome it to meet the challenge, to try that thing, to go forward and take the next step. It’s scary but it can be done.

One of the most challenging experiences for me during my divorce, was simply dealing with lawyers, attending meetings, discoveries, examinations and finally trial.

It can be intimidating to say the least. It’s one thing to sit with your own lawyer in their office but very different to sit across from your ex and his lawyer in a conference room. Add a court reporter, recording devices, piles of documents and know that you’re going to be grilled by a lawyer any moment, and you start to sweat.

2015 promises to be the year of happiness…how?

I was recently reading one of my favorite blogs, Harleena Singh’s Aha Now. You’ll recognize Harleena because she often visits here and leaves encouraging comments. The post was written by guest blogger Kira M. Newman, titled ‘Why Our Ideas About Happiness Are Backwards”.

Kira offers a free happiness class called The Year of Happy. I know it sounds, like well, I’m already happy so why do I need that?

If you’re in the middle of your divorce you probably feel like you’re chasing paper. You may have legal papers and bills spread out on your living room table.  You have important letters from your lawyer mixed up in your mail.  You haven’t opened the last envelope from your lawyer because you’re worried it’s a huge bill. These lawyers fees add up pretty quickly, while nothing seems to be getting done at all.  Sound familiar?

Erin Brockovich, client advocate

I guess it’s pick on lawyers day.  This is important, though and something I’ve experienced.  It made me wonder at the effects of lawyers PREACHING self help when they should be practicing law…

There’s a reason why Lawyers should stick to their expertise and provide legal advice and not personal advice.  I know a lawyer who attended a self help weekend retreat.  The premise of these retreats is for people to LET GO.  They tell their story and then claim they can let them go, like a helium filled balloon—floating away never to be seen again.

I’m working on a series of videos with ‘bite sized’ tips.  All of the videos will cover topics related to divorce.  I wanted to share one of them here because  it’s a very important topic.  Telling your kids…making that dreaded announcement.  You can guess that we’re not going to say “Honey, your Dad and I have decided to concsiously uncouple.”  No.  Not happening.