When life throws you a curve ball, one of the best coping mechanisms is sticking with your daily routine.  Throughout the divorce process, at times, it'll seem that your entire world has been turned upside down and nothing seems to be as it was.  To a certain extent it isn’t; but no matter what has changed, almost everything is still the same.

Work and home responsibilities are still there, but the lens on how you view and interact with life is what has changed.   Emotions are raw and can swing like a clock pendulum back and forth from fear to happiness, and back to fear before you even get your feet out of bed in the morning.

There were days I would wake up and would like nothing better to do than to call in sick and stay in bed all day so I didn't have to deal with my life.  The thought of going through my daily routine just sounded exhausting to me and the best thing I could do for my spirits was to swing my feet out of bed and start going through my morning routine and head into work.

There will be periods during the difficult times where you would just love to hit the fast forward pedal on life to move past where you are now, and on to better days ahead.  It is okay to wish you just didn't have to drudge through the path you are currently on.

It is okay to wish you were anywhere else in the world than where you are now.  There were days that I felt as if I was crawling out of my skin and those are the days I know I really just need to focus on today and the next right action I need to make.  Keep faith that where you are today will pass, and better days are ahead.

During a particularly stressful time of my divorce I had a dinner engagement planned with a girlfriend, one that we did every few months.  On the way home from work I really just wanted to cancel dinner plans and sit in a hot bath tub, then go to bed.  I knew she would be okay with me rescheduling; but as I was contemplating cancellation I acknowledged the right decision was for me to follow through on my commitment.

Dining with my girlfriend was exactly what I needed for the evening.  After a very brief update with what was going on in my life, it was wonderful to sit and listen to her share what was going on in her life.  It felt so good to get out of myself for an evening.  Leaving the restaurant that night I had a spring in my step… partly for following through on my commitment, mostly for being available to listen to my friend share her life.

Lesson Learned:  Sometimes doing the hard thing is the best thing for us.

Image Credit: Blog Spot