You have been wearing the superhero suit for a long time. Being the sane parent, mom, provider, therapist and so on. You are understandably tired.
This time of year is tough on us all. I know that I've been struggling myself beyond what I've posted here and I have few responsibilities compared to you.
As far as our former spouses go - the whole "operating without a net" thing is uncomfortable. Yes - if we had a crisis neither of them could be counted on. We do really have only ourselves that we can count on. And there are people who count on us even if they are largely independent.
One thing that I promised my kids when this crap all started was that I wouldn't make any big changes for 3 years. I'm not almost 2 years in. The world can be a scary place for us "unsupervised" folk.
I think one big difference between "us" and "them" is that they have a selfish sense of entitlement that we don't. My IC once told me that if I was questioning whether I was having my own MLC that I wasn't. We are the more self-aware ones. On the other hand - we are also the ones writing this side of the story.
You are soon going to be having the scary opportunity to be a true empty nester - maybe this is a time to start indeed thinking about what your future could look like. I wonder what your kids would think. Don't underestimate them. In their minds they perhaps imagine that Mom will always be exactly where and how she is.
Oh - and superheroes are allowed to wear their underwear on the outside
On BD H52, W50 T27, M26 S21, D23 BD-9-Mar-16 D-15-Jan-18 Final-19-Apr-18 I am a storyteller. The story may do you no good. But a story is never for the listener. It is always for the one who tells
