Growing up, I embraced serving as a helper, succeeding as an achiever, and supporting ideas with structure. I loved a good adventure that unfolded according to plan. I graduated with a degree in Physical Therapy, I married my high school sweetheart, and I nurtured my growing family with a lifelong vision of a stable loving household.

Divorce broadsided me like a tsunami wave crashing just outside of my periphery. It scattered all my tangible and intangible possessions, especially ideals and identities that I clung to so tightly.

Through divorce, the achiever in me experienced failure, the integrity I held collapsed from the weight of shame, and the helper in me discovered humility through my inability to “fix” my marriage and, conversely, find myself on the receiving end of help from others.

Some describe divorce as the “no-casserole disease.” Death and dying in marriage can be complicated to navigate; support and bereavement groups are not as widely available.

I was fortunate to discover a support network amidst the divorce debris. Friends and family offered tokens of compassion. Attorneys helped me through the legal process. Therapists helped me and my children through the grief and emotions that accompanied the changes in our household. And a coach helped me envision and design a new life framed by the balance I craved. When my future was out of focus, my coach helped steady my gaze on a horizon that promised light.

I consider this work an honor and privilege. By co-creating the divorce transition process, I hope to pay forward the empowerment that comes with regained footing. Most of all, I recognize that clarity can provide any woman the ability to envision H.E.R. revitalized future.