The unthinkable has just happened: your spouse has announced they're contemplating divorce. With your whole world turned upside down, what are you supposed to do now?

As a licensed therapist what I can tell you is that the end of your story has not yet been written. There is still hope. I'm not promising it will be easy, but if you're committed to figuring this out, you can.

So let's begin. There’s an old saying: It takes two to tango.

What’s missing from this old saying is that it also takes two to repair.

It may be hard to read quotes about hope right now when all you see around you is pain and loss.

When living through dark times, focussing on “hope” may feel like an inauthentic act for some or an obsessive need for others. This competing dualistic perspective is a perfect example of how life exists in opposites: day and night, dark and light, hope and despair.

Most people are familiar with the adage “ you first need to learn how to love yourself, before you can love another”. Knowing this and practicing self love however, are two very different things.

It’s worth stating, that intellectually, almost everyone, kind of sort of understands the heart of this adage. But the idea of self love for most, seems to live and die in the cerebral realm.

With that said, it begs the questions then, do people really know, in a felt sense, what it means to love themselves? What does practicing self love actually entail and most importantly, why is it in one’s best interest to practice self love each and every day?