The first time I had ever lived alone was after my divorce after 33 years of marriage. I was 53 when the divorce was final. When my youngest child left for college the next year, I was faced with living alone for the first time in my life.
I had gone from my childhood home to a dorm to being married and then having four children.
So, after our divorce, a huge question I had to face was, “How do I figure out how to live alone after divorce? After all these years of living with another person or a bunch of other people?”
When you divorce in midlife, you may enjoy the freedom for awhile. But when those first few weeks and months of living by yourself end, the loneliness and isolation often sets in. I felt like I was this one little boat in an ocean of couples and families. The loneliness after divorce is a whole different animal when you’re in your middle years.
Being alone after midlife or late-life divorce is about being alone, alone. 24/7. Getting dressed alone. Eating alone. Coming home to an empty house alone. Getting in bed alone. You feel lonely even among friends and family.
Here is how someone in our MDRcommunity described it:
“He has left me…left everything that we ever had together. Gone. Left me alone to deal with this, with life, with the aftermath, so he can get on with his new life. There really is no one for me to turn to, to release this pain, to physically be held. No one to hold me, to tell me everything will be OK. No one. “
After my divorce, I too was trying to get back to the land of the living, but I felt miserable. I was trying hard to find the good in all of this, and to see God working to bring light into the darkness. I saw nothing but sadness and despair and I had a deepening fear that this wasn’t temporary, but that I was going to feel this loneliness until I died.
(I AM LIVING PROOF THAT IS NOT TRUE!)
So how do we turn things around and stop the loneliness after our divorce? One of the first things is to change how we look at being alone. Rename it. Don’t call it loneliness. Call it solitude. Most great thinkers cherish solitude. Learn to embrace it.
I’m sure you’re thinking, “Is she crazy?! That’s NOT going to happen!”
Here’s one fact: You are not going to die of loneliness — even though you think you might. So, take a deep breath and use this time to rediscover who you are, what you want, what your gifts and goals and dreams are as you move forward.
This alone time may have been forced on us, but we can still use it to learn about our deeper selves …. scary but enlightening at the same time.
Don’t Fixate On Being Alone
When loneliness sets in, one of the first things we have to figure out is how to stop being scared of living alone after divorce. We have to face our singleness head on and find strategies to make the best of it. Or we can refuse to adjust and be miserable.
Below are some actions that will keep your attention focused on something besides worrying that you’re going to turn into a bag lady living alone forever with a houseful of cats.
(SECRET: YOU WON’T!)
Find A Hobby Or Activity
After divorce in midlife, we should take a fresh look at things we love doing that we have let go. What activities did you enjoy, but just didn’t have time for until now Painting? Cooking? Dancing? Drumming? Exploring new places? Hiking? Something totally outside the box?
This is a time to figure out who and what you like. Go to the bookstore and poke around the sections that interest you. Stay away from the self-help aisle! Do you think your ex is snivelling around the “How to Get Over Divorce” section of the bookstore? NO! You stay away from it, too!
Join The MDR Community
One of the first things all women going through divorce need to do is take advantage of our MDRcommunity … especially if you’re living alone after divorce. Our research showed that loneliness is one of the top three most challenging issues for women after divorce, so we created a place for women from all around the world to connect with other women on the divorce recovery road. Here are a couple of comments from the group.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you – all of you wonderful girlfriends! It helps me so much to be understood. All too often I hear people tell me to “just get over it” – like it is as simple as mind over matter. We will all survive this ordeal and we will have gained so much from going through it.” C.H.
Here is another woman talking about how our community of women was helping her:
“To me the friendship (of the RADiCAL women) has meant someone who always understands, laughing through our tears, and most of all becoming instant and lasting friends. The encouragement to one another is amazing. I am very fortunate to have these women in my life!!!!!!!”
Our friends and family want to help, but if they haven’t been through divorce, especially after a long marriage, they simply don’t understand how your heart is hurting. The women in the MDRcommunity get it. They don’t get tired of listening … and encouraging.
Host People
Reach out to people. When my youngest son and I first moved to our new house after the divorce, I walked around the neighborhood and hand-delivered invitations to everyone on the block. I announced we were having a “Meet-the-new-neighbors,-show-my-old -friends-where-we-live-party.” Everything was very casual and everyone was asked to bring some goodie to share.
It immediately made us part of the new neighborhood! An elderly neighbor taught my son how to tie his bow tie for a concert at school. Others helped us get settled or shared vegetables from their garden or gave us tips about the neighborhood. Step out of your comfort zone and try hosting a gathering whether you have moved or not.
Exercise (Maybe Join A Gym)
One of the “must do” things after divorce is to take care of yourself. You need to make a new commitment to getting healthy and fit. Taking care of your physical body helps with everything else. You have more energy. You look better. You feel better, and you have more confidence and optimism about the future.
And, if you join a gym, or start going to the YMCA in your neighborhood, you can meet a whole gaggle of new friends who also care about their body. They are usually outgoing and fun, too. Taking control of your body is a huge step towards taking control of everything else.
Refocus On Work
If you’re working, this is a good time to throw yourself into that with a passion! That sounds good, but if you’re anything like me, some days I was simply trying to get from morning ‘til night without falling apart completely.
In those early days of divorce grief, it’s hard to focus on anything. We can help you learn to live in the moment. For awhile you must compartmentalize your grief while you’re working, and then let it all out when you get home. Take a hot bath. Work out. Call a friend.
Change Your Physical Space
If you are going to stay in your house, you’re going to have to make those spaces your own. I got a smaller bed to replace our king-sized bed. I found an old metal farm gate to stand up behind the bed, and I put a string of white Christmas lights on it. I loved it.
Get new bed linens, especially if the girlfriend ever set foot in your house! Get rid of stuff that reminds you of him. Bring some big potted plants into your home to help neutralize the lingering smell of him. Our sense of smell triggers memories more than any other sense, so get as many of his things out of the house as possible.
Make the space yours! Transform your old space into a space that is comforting, yet empowering, for you now.
Get Outside (Take A Trip?)
After divorce, getting into nature brings incredible physical and emotional benefits. Just being outside improves your sense of well-being. There are subtle differences in different surroundings. Mountains and pines bring a certain specific feel. So does the beach and the smell of the sea.
Sign up for a singles MeetUp group that takes walks or bike trips around your city. After divorce, going with your church on a mission trip can be a jump forward in your recovery. Even if you just travel to the inner city and help build a Habitat for Humanity, it lifts your spirits. You’re exhausted, but you feel great; and you might notice that you haven’t thought about your ex once in the midst of all of your hammering. That’s a victory of its own!
Another scary, but liberating adventure is to travel alone somewhere. The first time I took a plane by myself after my divorce, I felt tears sliding down my cheeks as I looked out the window when we took off. You get better at it as you go along, so be patient and keep trying.
Remove Reminders: Clean House
Doing a deep clean of your house is a great after-divorce undertaking. It will make your house look and smell great. Getting rid of clutter is a huge step in our post divorce healing process. Cluttered surroundings lead to muddled, confused thinking. Fix things that need fixing.
Find a Feng Shui book with great illustrations. It makes moving furniture around exciting, and I loved my clean, inspiring personal spaces. Try it!
If there are some things you just can’t get rid of after your divorce, bag them up in a big black trash bag and get them out of your face. Take them to the basement or the attic. You can deal with them later.
Consider Moving
During my divorce, I was still living in our dream house that we had designed ourselves. After divorce, I couldn’t afford it and it was too big anyway.
There were just too many memories and sights and smells that reminded me of everything I was losing. So I bought a much, much, smaller home for my youngest son and me, and we went to thrift shops and sales and decorated it just how we wanted it.
An article from the Wall Street Journal reports that one of the fastest growing demographics of new home buyers is single women over 50! Moving was an amazing turning point for me, even though I am not wealthy like the women in the article.
Living alone after divorce began to feel more like exploration rather than a life sentence. Hopefully that can happen for you, too.
Join us! We’re all travelling along together to a life that is good and fun and full again! For more info click here.
You didn’t mention getting a support cat or dog. My two cats are family and I am not alone because of them. I am 70 and there is no hope of ever completing recovering from the divorce at 50. My cats have made all the difference. Sure, it is not like having my husband at home but I never return home to an empty house but to my two wonderful cats who share my life. They are family.
Please explain the deafening vacuum of loneliness combine with Covid and not being able to get out to events and meet people everybody is hold up with
Good read. I am a recently divorced male after a 27 year marriage. Age 49. I find it interesting how many of these articles I read that are geared towards women. I believe women have a much stronger support system than men to help them through life changing events such as divorce. I struggle with loneliness and find it extremely difficult to talk about it with my male peers. When I do, the conversation usually lasts no more than 3 minutes. I believe women are better equipped to handle living by themselves than men. I’ve watched my two sisters do it for years and thrive. I’m figuring it out though. Discovering myself and what I can be will ultimately make me a better man for the next time around…
Someone earlier has made a very good comment J Dempsay -which i gree with. Im a male 53 and am at end stages of a divorce. We moved to a new area and very shortly after split. My ex moved away with a female friend and I feel very lonely. My ex had a strong support network and i have no one. Its very very difficult as it feels very very lonely. I do believe that women come out of a divorce far better than men. They have a much stronger support network.
After a 25 year marriage, at age 55 it ended. Now at 60, I’m 5 years past it, alone and happy. It took 5 years to figure out that being single is ok. If you are lonesome I recommend a pet, but don’t get with someone because you’re lonely—that won’t end up well. Even though we’re taught to get married and have kids, and that indeed serves raising children, at midlife many split because their life isn’t about that anymore. If you’re feeling pathetic about being alone, and needy in that sense, then you are not thinking straight and not respecting and serving yourself well. Learn to love and respect yourself, and to know that you are enough, and that you can be happy without someone else to depend on. You can do this as I have.
Much of this is true in many ways ! I am 63 and was with my husband for 32 years and looking forward to retirement, building and more travel and bang he left in the most traumatic year in my life , loosing several close family of life support, my lovely mother dying and much much more, I fell in a very dark place , to my shock one of my long term besties just dropped out and evidently this is common, I spend a lot of time on my own and it does do you in , I look forward to eventually turning the corner
Seven years after my divorce (26 years married), I’m still struggling with loneliness and self esteem issues. I’ve done and am still doing most of the things you suggested in the above article.
Empty nest and retired. Doing lots of volunteering (as Covid permits) and child care of grandchildren, hobbies and some limited travel. But just not feeling at peace with my “solitude”. Any suggestions?
It’s not always being alone that gets me. I do alot of the items listed in the article. I do relate to that woman’s statement about not having anyone to turn to. I have a great support in friends, family, neighbors, but that person you turn to laugh about your almost grown kids adventures etc. on a daily basis I miss. I also feel the loneliness when I have to handle all the things life throws at you when you own a home, pets, cars, kids, jobs etc. by myself. Before he up for and left for a younger woman we had a great partnership in taking care of all of the daily life roles. Now I have to do them all. That is when I feel the loneliness the most.