Navigating the Emotional Toll of Divorce: Tips for Coping with Stress and Anxiety

No one word can describe how divorce feels. Some descriptives are complicated, sad, maddening, frustrating and devastating. How a person thinks about divorce can change from moment to moment. Every person pays an emotional toll when going through a divorce.

If you are a parent, you may feel heightened stress and anxiety about divorce. Navigating your emotions is vital to helping your children manage the changes in family dynamics. Finding ways to cope with stress and anxiety healthily will benefit your entire family.

Tips for Coping with Stress and Anxiety

Below are simple tips for coping with the stress and anxiety of divorce that may cost nothing but time.

Notice the Actions of Others

We all know someone that has been through a divorce. It is essential to recognize that your situation is unique, but divorce is not uncommon. So you likely know someone who has walked the path you are just beginning. Take a moment to reflect on the actions of others. 

Do you have a trusted friend or neighbor that you admired as they skillfully navigated the stressors of a divorce? Are they trustworthy? Then talk with that person if they are willing to listen and share.

Having someone to confide in who has been where you are and who can offer sound, impartial advice can make you feel less alone and provide the comfort that you can come out on the other side with a positive outlook. 

Move for Mental Health

With the significant life changes divorce brings, anxiety and depression can occur during the divorce process. “The best way to manage divorce anxiety is to build a strong support team,” note Los Angeles divorce attorneys at Fernandez & Karney, “This team needs to include a medical doctor, a therapist, and an experienced attorney.” Anxiety is a medical condition that deserves appropriate medical care from licensed professionals. 

Anxiety and depression are also positively impacted by regular exercise. It can also boost your mood and contribute to a better night’s sleep, which often suffers when experiencing the emotional toll of divorce. Movement takes your focus to the world around you and gets you out of your head.

Exercise can also combat stress. Notice your body and anxiety. The tightness can creep into your back, neck, shoulders, and face causing musculoskeletal pain, but exercise helps release tension. There is no need for a brand-new gym membership or to embark on a significant exercise overhaul; there is enough change happening in your life. A simple walk, focusing on releasing stress and anxiety, and not weight loss, is a proven method that improves mental health.

Have Fun

It is okay to have fun during a divorce. Giving yourself permission to laugh and enjoy activities 

benefits you and can reinforce to your children that you are okay. Sit down and write a list of what fun looks like and find a way to have fun often.

• Find activities that introduce you to new friends. Take your dog to a neighborhood dog park, have coffee with the neighbor you have been meaning to chat with or join a support group where you can share your experience with others. 
• Pursue a new hobby. Yoga, community softball, gardening, or painting, can help access the creative part of your brain. Taking up any art habit can help you process emotions, lower stress, and even imagine a more hopeful future. 
• Find an organization that needs help and volunteer. It could be at your child’s school or with an organization that fights for causes you are passionate about, but volunteering can be fun and benefit you in multiple ways.

Create a Plan

Divorce is a legal process, and it never hurts to benefit from legal help. Hiring an attorney is a way of looking out for your future. One day, it will feel much brighter.

Work with your partner, if possible, to establish a parenting plan. The stress that comes from knowing your child’s life will also go through dramatic changes can be eased if you and your partner understand that the goal of working together is not to resolve past hurts but to positively impact your child’s future. 

Your current plan may be to turn off your computer and get a good night’s sleep. Your strategy does not have to be grand, but it creates a goal to aim toward. Successfully navigating the emotional toll of divorce never has to be done alone!