Flexibility: It's About More Than Muscles

Life changes a lot when you separate and divorce. Things that used to be a regular part of life just aren't anymore. And when things change in unexpected ways, we can get scared, frustrated and angry.

When clients begin working with me, they're usually experiencing some combination of fear, frustration and anger. One of the first things we do is dive into what's behind or at the root of these emotions. What we usually discover on our deep dive are limits that have been disregarded in some way. The limits could be behaviors, expectations, thoughts, beliefs or even habits.

The identification of your personal limits is a critical part of restructuring your life during and after divorce. Some people are quite adept at identifying their limits - what they can and can't do, what they think and why they think it, what they expect and why they expect it and what their habits of thought, belief, response and action are. Others aren't as aware of their limits. They aren't quite sure of what their limits are or even if they want to know because they do and think what others tell them to. And then there are people everywhere in between these two extremes.

Regardless of your starting point, I think knowing and understanding your limits is one of the key pieces to successfully navigating divorce. Your limits can help you understand what's truly important to you as you negotiate your settlement. And knowing your limits will even allow you to ask for help and support when you need it.

The interesting thing though is that people's limits are usually explored during divorce. OK, that's a nice way of saying your limits will be tested, pushed, prodded, and beat against before, during, and after your separation and divorce. Who's doing all this "exploring"? EVERYONE. Or at least it will probably feel that way. However, the chief "explorers" are usually your soon-to-be-ex and you. I'll bet you already get how your soon-to-be-ex figures in here, but did you expect to also be on the chief "explorers"? The thing is that by virtue of going through the divorce process you're asking yourself to completely redefine what your life is like. And anytime you or anyone else changes it's testing/exploring our previously known limits.

I know all the testing, pushing, prodding, and beating against limits is at the minimum uncomfortable and worst excruciating. However, the payoff is either an adjustment, or a reaffirming of your limits along with, ideally, improved ways of communicating them to yourself and others. With your new limits you're most often better off than you were with your old limits. Kinda like that old adage what doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

Great, right? There's going to be some struggle and then things will be better. UGH! There's nothing there about how to make the transition from married to divorce easier! And here's where I'm going to tell you that the way to make things easier is to be flexible and loving while you're exploring your limits so you can adjust and evaluate them by choice instead of by force.

By allowing yourself to be flexible as you explore your limits you'll be much more able to understand and choose what to do with your limits and your life as you move forward through your divorce process. The flexibility will also allow you to negotiate from a more confident spot because you'll be able to more easily see the options available to you. Developing the ability to be flexible will help you now as you're navigating your divorce, but throughout your life.

Your Functional Divorce Assignment:

Know your limits. As you're proceeding through your separation and divorce process take note of your limits. You'll probably become aware of them most easily when you're experiencing a strong emotion.

Explore your limits. Once you've identified a limit, ask yourself questions like "How did I develop this limit?", "What's the benefit of this limit?", and "What might adjusting this limit be like?" Take note of what you discover about yourself.

Adjust your limits. Exploring limits almost always gives you new ideas of how to be, act, and think. Take advantage of your discoveries and adjust your limits in ways that make you feel wonderful!