Better Because of Divorce

“The old Kenna’s back, but she’s even better.” That is what Kenna said when I asked her how the FIERCE Sisterhood helped her recover from divorce and empty nest, not just think her way toward it. Kenna found me through the title of this podcast: Better Because of Divorce. She read it and wondered if it could possibly be true. She was widowed after twenty years of marriage, remarried, and then divo...

"Instead of being a victim, it has definitely made me a victor." That is what Julie W. said when I asked her how the FIERCE Sisterhood helped her rewrite her story. Julie found this podcast on a plane ride home from visiting her grandchildren. She was 60 years old, freshly divorced, and facing a future that looked nothing like the one she had planned. The retirement travels. The life she...

Sister Stories: Why You Keep Pushing Down the Feeling That More Is Possible After Divorce Something happens when women hear the Sister Stories on this podcast. Something stirs. Something reaches. Something quiet and persistent shows up and says: t hat could be me. And then it gets pushed back down. This episode is about why you keep doing that. And what becomes possible the moment you stop. Randa...

"I forgot that I could make decisions on my own." That is what Randa said when I asked her what surprised her most about the life she has created since her divorce. After nearly 30 years of marriage, 26 of them as a career Army family, Randa found herself separated, sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a one-bedroom apartment, barely making ends meet, and telling absolutely no one what...

"I was just barely existing. There was no light at the end of my tunnel." That is how Kim Wyman describes where she was before she found the FIERCE Sisterhood. Five to seven months into the aftermath of a nearly 20-year marriage ending overnight, without warning, without a say in the matter, Kim was stuck in what she describes as her own personal Groundhog Day. Going through the motions....

Five years ago today was my 50th birthday. I had just filed for divorce less than a month prior. And today, on my 55th birthday, I want to show you what five years of not waiting actually looks like. Not the highlight reel. The real version. The losses and the wins and the trips and the grief and the businesses and the babies and the heartbreak and the joy, all of it happening simultaneously the w...

One hundred episodes. Two years of showing up every single week for women who are navigating divorce and empty nest and everything that comes with it. And for episode 100 I'm not talking about strategies or frameworks or what to do next. I'm talking about what happens when you actually do it. When I started this podcast I was teaching full time at a university, newly divorced, and buildi...

My daughter received her white coat last week. For those who don't know, a white coat ceremony is the moment a medical student takes the oath that marks the formal beginning of their journey as a physician. It was one of the most extraordinary moments of my life. And I was not alone in that room. My ex was there. His fiancée. His parents. My daughter quietly navigating which side of the famil...

What if the life you want after divorce isn't out of reach? What if you just can't see it yet? There is a particular kind of stuck that doesn't look like stuck from the outside. You have a roof over your head. People who love you. Enough to get by. And you've told yourself, quietly and repeatedly, that wanting more is ungrateful. That bigger lives are for other people. That you...

Here's something nobody tells you when your marriage ends. The most dangerous thing you can do right now is try to heal from divorce alone. Not dangerous in a dramatic way. Dangerous in the quiet, slow, barely-noticeable way that keeps women stuck for years, carrying the same grief, the same pain, the same patterns, with no one to witness it, reflect it back, or show them another way. Healing...

What Dolly Saw - And What I See in You The world lost Dolly Parton this week. And I couldn't let this moment pass without talking about what she meant, not just as an icon, but as a woman who spent her entire life doing one extraordinary thing. She saw possibility in people. In children who didn't have books. In employees at a theme park in Tennessee. In anyone who crossed her path. She...

Every choice you make right now is sending a ripple. Into your children, your grandchildren, your friends, and all of your relationships. And the ripple doesn't wait for you to be ready. It doesn't ask for your permission. It just moves. In this episode we're talking about the two very different legacies available to every woman who is rebuilding her identity after divorce. The lega...

This summer I was in the room when my daughter got the call that she was accepted to medical school. And I was also the one who had to tell my other daughter that her best friend had been killed in a car accident on his way to our house. One moment she was laughing and waiting for him to walk through the door. The next, life was changed forever.  In between those two moments I was floating on a sa...

Most women know what they want to say; they struggle with feeling safe enough to say it. If that sounds like you, keep reading! In this episode I'm joined by Sara Fisk , host of the Ex Good-Girl podcast and Life Coach for women who can handle anything- except asking for what they want.  Find Sara by clicking on either of the links above or take her free course by clicking right here. Today, w...

What if finding purpose after divorce doesn't start with a plan? What if it really starts with permission to put yourself first? In this episode we're dismantling the belief that has kept women small for decades:   ❌ Putting yourself first is selfish ❌ A good woman goes last ❌ Wanting things for yourself is dangerous. These beliefs cost you your joy and your impact. The woman who is r...

Are you waiting to move forward after divorce? Waiting until life settles down. Until you have more money. Until you have it figured out. Until you feel ready. It sounds so reasonable. So responsible. So safe. But what if waiting is actually the most toxic relationship you've been in since your marriage ended? In this episode we're breaking up with waiting and talking honestly about why...

After divorce, one of the most devastating losses isn't the marriage. It's trust in yourself. "I chose wrong." "I stayed too long." "How did I miss the signs?" Your brain uses the divorce as evidence that your judgment can't be trusted. And when you don't trust yourself, you can't make decisions. About dating. About your career. About your lif...

Do you ever feel like your life is something you're surviving instead of choosing? Like you're handling everything, showing up, getting through the days and still somehow feel completely trapped? There's a reason for that.  Most women, a year or two past divorce, are living inside a gap they don't even know is there. They're replaying the same painful thoughts on a loop. T...

This episode is for the woman who is still in the thick of it. The one who cries in the car. The one who isn't sleeping. The one who is scared of what comes next and doesn't quite recognize her own life anymore. But also, the one who, underneath all of it, still knows she is worth so much more than the life she's living right now. If that's you, this episode is an invitation to...

"I can't afford it." Four little words that sound completely reasonable. Four words nobody ever pushes back on. Four words that end the conversation every single time. And sometimes they're simply true. But a lot of the time, those four words are hiding something much deeper. In this episode of Better Because of Divorce, host and certified life coach Julie Steed unpacks what of...

You're doing everything right. Therapy. Journaling. Talking it out with friends who understand. You are healing, and you have been for a long time. So why do you still feel stuck? In this episode of Better Because of Divorce, host and certified life coach Julie Steed shares the hard truth she learned the slow way after her own divorce: that healing can quietly become a trap. A place to hide....

For decades, I reacted to my life. I thought I had a temper. I thought that was just who I was. The truth was harder and simpler than that. I had never learned how to manage or process my emotions. And everyone around me lived inside the fallout. My marriage was an emotional minefield. My ex and my daughters navigated the unpredictability. And I believed it was simply my personality. Today my life...

So many women tell me that one of the biggest hurdles after divorce is the loss of self confidence. The inability to trust themselves. The feeling that the woman they used to be — capable, certain, grounded — somehow disappeared along with the marriage. But here is what I want you to consider. Divorce didn't take your self confidence. Something else did. And in this episode of Better Because...

After divorce, something powerful happens. Women get moving. They lose weight, start businesses, start dating, build something new. The results are real. The progress is real. The accomplishments are genuinely theirs. But sometimes the fuel behind all of that action has nothing to do with them. In this episode of Better Because of Divorce, host and certified divorce life coach Julie Steed introduc...

Strong independent women are really good at okay. And from the outside, okay looks like enough, but it's really survival mode in disguise. In this episode of Better Because of Divorce, host and certified divorce life coach Julie Steed makes the case that okay, as hard as you worked to get there, is not the goal. It is not healing. And it is not anywhere close to the life you actually deserve....