Four Tips to Make Your Divorce Less Stressful

Few things are as stressful as divorce. Your world is been turned upside down and your old routines have disappeared. You may not feel well: divorce can cause sleeplessness, depression, anxiety, and even a weakened immune system.

It may not seem like it when you’ve spent the past 24 hours on the couch with a blanket and a pile of wet Kleenex, but you may come to think of your divorce as one of the turning points to a better life. How can you get started now?

Get a gym membership

We all know that exercise reduces stress, but unfortunately we don’t always follow through. There’s never going to be a time when working on stress is more critical to your outlook and health, though. Better yet, exercise doesn’t need to be boring, and besides making you feel better physically it can be just plain fun. It’s never too late to take up fencing, to learn to box, or start Zumba lessons. And learning new physical skills can be pretty engrossing. If you’re planning a climbing expedition to K2—or participating in a fencing match—it may be difficult to remember that you even got a divorce.

Take a cooking class

Even if you cook quite well, there are no doubt new cuisines for you to conquer. Are you an expert French cook? Why not add Dominican to your repertoire?

This is another stress reducer that has double benefits. We all have a tendency to not take good enough care of ourselves when we are depressed, but having all that yummy Dominican food around makes it hard not to eat well. There are the added benefits of meeting new people and honing skills.

Write

We all know that we get over things faster if we just let them go, but sometimes letting go isn’t so easy. A good interim solution is writing things down. It’s amazing—you can write down your meanest thoughts, and it doesn’t cause any problems at all. Keeping a journal is an excellent way to work through your feelings. If you’re really ambitious, you may try your hand at poetry or short stories. Just don’t give in to the temptation to send anything you’ve written to your ex!

Volunteer

Volunteering gives you many opportunities to help in ways that are meaningful to you. Food banks and hospitals can always use volunteers. The Red Cross, your local museum, tutoring kids or adults in reading—volunteering provides a lot of interesting opportunities not just to be helpful, but to make new connections and learn new things.

If you’re facing divorce, we understand your stress. Please contact us today to discuss your situation!