New Year’s Resolutions After Divorce
Our Happy Divorce Friday, January 3, 2020
Just like the new year, divorce is the opportunity to take a fresh look at your life and your priorities. As you make your New Year’s resolutions this year, focus on all the new opportunities you have to be a better co-parent and have a happy divorce throughout the coming year.
Make These Divorce Resolutions
Setting goals after your divorce keeps you accountable and helps you move on more quickly. Moving on allows you to focus on being a better co-parent and reframing your relationship with your ex. Here are some resolutions that can help you in the new year.
Resolve to:
- Lead a healthier life: You’ve gone through a major change, and that can take a toll on your body. Use your New Year’s resolutions after divorce to make some great changes for your health.
- Find physical activities that make you happy and relieve stress. These can be a great way to relieve some of the emotional highs and lows you will experience after a divorce.
- Commit to staying sober through your divorce. Substance abuse is a common coping mechanism during divorce. In the new year, take the opportunity to make a new commitment to staying sober.
- Change your diet. One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions is to change the way you eat. But when you’re going through a divorce, the emotional stress can impact your appetite, too. Use your resolution to make a commitment to healthy eating so that your body feels stronger and more capable. This can help you deal with the emotional stress of a divorce.
- Take a close look at your co-parenting relationship. Co-parenting goes through seasons. Some are easy, some are harder. Take a look back at the past few months of co-parenting. Identify areas you can improve.
- Work on your communication. Maybe it’s trying a different co-parenting app that helps you track your schedules, finances and important documents all in one place. Try setting up a weekly check-in call or face-to-face meeting with your ex to run through important kid questions. Continue to put your kids first in every conversation and decision.
- Find helpful resources. Sometimes checking in with what other co-parents and blended families are doing can help you make some resolutions for the new year. There are many Facebook pages, blogs, articles and podcasts dedicated to co-parenting.
- Check-in on your custody schedule. As your children get more used to divorce and as they get older, sometimes it can be helpful to re-adjust your custody schedule.
- Check-in with your kids. Divorce is a big change for kids, but the new year is a good opportunity to check in with them and see how they’re doing. There are some resolutions you can make that will help you reconnect with your kids in the new year.
- Spend extra time at home. When you share custody, your time with your kids can feel like it moves really quickly. This year, focus on being intentional with your custody. Spend some extra time at home, creating new traditions with your kids.
- Keep the lines of communication open. Set up special moments throughout the week where your kids can share their thoughts and feelings openly. This could occur around the dinner table on the same night each week. You can share as a family, or you can find one-on-one time with each child.
- Work on your relationships with your step-children. If you have a blended family, the new year is a great time to make resolutions that will help you be a step-parent your kids need and adore. Find ways to create new family traditions, and keep the lines of communication open with your step-children as well.
Whether it’s working on yourself or finding ways to put your children first in your divorce, the new year is a time of reflection and resolution. Forgive yourself for your part in the divorce, and then work on forgiving your ex by setting some New Year’s resolutions after your split. This is the perfect opportunity to work on yourself.