When you choose to serve others, especially under the titled ‘Coached 2 Love,’ then transparency is a must.  Love has multiple faces.  Likewise, the relationships that are inspired by the pursuit of love has many outcomes.  One of the most dreadful is divorce.

No one gets married with divorce in mind as the desired outcome.  At least none who take the vows of marriage sacred.  The parties invested in the success of the marriage extend beyond the persons taking the vows or the attendants that stand with them.  Usually there is a community of supporters, including family, friends, fraternity and sorority siblings, classmates, neighbors, and co-workers.  The outcome of the marriage has an impact on all of those who poured in their feelings, time, and prayers.  So, when a marriage ends it has an impact on the entire community.

If a marriage brings a community together to celebrate, then it stands to reason that a divorce should also bring one together to mourn.  Unfortunately, the painful process of separation and divorce drives the partners into seclusion or excessive behaviors that make them hard to approach.  And no one has the right to judge how someone processes the sting of divorce.  And, no one has the right to deny the congregation of believers their opportunities to heal too.

I recorded a number of videos, journal entries, in an effort to both process the decision to divorce my spouse and begin the long journey towards healing.  The idea was not my own, but that of a relationship consultant that happened to sit next to me at a networking function.  Coincidence or not, she challenged me to combine the goal of leading others in conversation about love while sharing my own challenges to obtain the heart’s desire.

And I was immediately afraid.  I was afraid of hurting the woman that I had spent seven years with.  I was afraid of hurting her daughters who I call my own, or my sons, which had already seen their father loose at love.  Our families, friends, fraternal and sorority siblings, and so many others were of concern.  Yet, fear has never had the final say over my actions and this challenge would not be any different.

Recording the journal entries were at times cathartic.  It is my hope that in sharing these journal entries others will find meaning or understanding for their own relationships.  It is too late for there to be a different outcome in my marriage.  Perhaps, someone will find the strength they need to fight for their marriage, so that it will not end in divorce.  It may simply provide clarity for the community that stood with us through our courting period and on our wedding day.  I trust that in sharing these videos others will benefit through the outpouring of my emotions.

I decided to start with one of the final videos that was recorded.  This entry was completed shortly after a judge granted the petition for divorce.  The range of emotions that I was experiencing should be evident as I struggled with finding words to describe the experience and what I hoped to come next.  Clarity was not the goal, it was only authenticity.  Truth is that divorce has never been that clear to me and there is great ambiguity with starting a new chapter.Divorce Journal – Starting Our New Chapter