Being stuck in a marriage in which at least one person unhappy is emotionally draining, and finding ways to fix that partnership can be even more so. But even in the 21st century, there’s a certain stigma that continues to go along with the divorce — the idea that we failed at something as major as love. “You can’t ever not be a divorced person again,” Mandy Stadtmiller writes for the Cut. “It’s like a twisted form of losing your virginity. It changes how you interact with people the rest of your life.” But, as she suggests, what if we don’t look at divorce as failure, but instead we accept it as the closing of a chapter and emancipation? We know, we know, this is getting a little Eat, Love, Pray. But seriously. The pain and loss of a significant relationship — one that we probably felt was a part of our identity — is an opportunity for us to dig deep, learn, and discover things about ourselves that we would never would have done otherwise. To attest to this, we spoke to 15 women who shared why getting divorced ended up being the best thing that ever happened to them. More from CafeMom: 11 Texts That Reveal the Messy Truth About Life After Divorce More from CafeMom: 9 Poignant Divorce Quotes That Will Mend a Broken Heart More from CafeMom: 10 Things Every Divorced Woman Should Do Before Starting to Date Again
