Better Because of Divorce

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....

After divorce, staying busy feels like strength. A full schedule, a packed calendar, falling into bed exhausted every night. It looks like resilience. It looks like keeping it together. But busyness is one of the most socially acceptable ways to avoid feeling anything at all. And if you have been moving nonstop since your divorce, there is a very good chance you have been outrunning yourself witho...

If you've been divorced for a while and you're still stuck in the same patterns, still talking yourself out of the same decisions, still waiting for the right moment to finally move forward, this episode is for you. The reason you're not moving isn't what you think it is. It's not your circumstances. It's not bad timing. It's not that you're not ready. It&ap...

One of the hardest situations divorced women face is showing up to a family event — a wedding, a graduation, a birthday party — when your ex is going to be there with his new girlfriend, fiancée or wife. The anxiety starts before you even walk in the door. And for many women, the answer is simply: don't go. But avoidance isn't healing.  In this episode of Better Because of Divorce, host...

If you're going through a divorce or recently divorced and feeling overwhelmed, lost, or ashamed about your finances, this episode is for you. Julie sits down with Dr. Barb Provost, founder of Purse Strings, to talk about financial recovery after divorce. Dr. Barb holds a doctorate in adult education and spent over two decades in the financial services industry watching women get overlooked,...

What if the life you actually want is still available to you? Not the life you had before. Not a consolation prize version of it. The real thing. The relationship. The financial freedom. The trips, the work that excites you, the version of yourself you can barely picture right now but can feel somewhere underneath all of this. What if that life is closer than you think? What if? In this episode, I...

What if one of the most powerful tools for healing after divorce wasn't therapy o or journaling or another self-help book? What if it was play? In this episode I'm talking about something that disappears almost immediately when divorce hits — and why getting it back is not optional if you're serious about rebuilding your life. Play is not frivolous. It is not something you earn. It...

Are you dating after divorce and empty nest and wondering why it feels so hard? Most women who are ready to date again after divorce are still playing by the old rules.  Wait to be chosen.  Hope he likes you.  Build your life around whoever shows up. Those rules are never going to get you what you actually want. In this episode we're talking about a completely different approach to dating aft...

I talk to a lot of women who want to "wait until they're ready" to move forward after divorce. What they don't see is that being "ready" isn't a message that drops from the sky. Instead, it shows up in subtle ways - ways that are easily ignored or pushed aside. That restlessness you keep dismissing? That quiet longing that won't leave you alone? That searchi...

The Hidden Cost of Being Strong After Divorce Are you stuck after divorce even though you're doing everything right? The strength and independence that carried you through the hardest season of your life might be the very thing keeping you stuck now. Quietly turning away everything you want. In this episode we cover three things strong independent women do after divorce that keep them stuck....

What if the way you feel about money right now isn't permanent? Not fixed. Not fate. Not just the way it is because of your divorce. If you've been stuck in financial scarcity thinking after divorce, this episode is going to shift something for you. We're exploring the difference between scarcity mindset and abundance mindset. Making this shift might be the most important financial...

Divorce doesn't just divide your assets. It destroys the system and when that system collapses, your brain doesn't register it as an inconvenience. It registers it as a threat to your survival. If you're struggling with financial anxiety after divorce, you're not weak and you're not bad with money. Your nervous system is doing exactly what it was designed to do. In this ep...

When I asked women in my online community what divorce stole from them more than anything else, the overwhelming majority of women said: my family. If you're navigating grief after divorce, the loss of your family unit, your sense of belonging, the relationships you spent decades building, this episode is for you. We're talking about the love that hurts the most to lose: the kids who pul...

Do you feel like you're in an identity free-fall after divorce?  If so, you want to hear this episode where Julie introduces Ali Ryan, the newest member of Team FIERCE. Ali is an integrative coach and yoga teacher who specializes in trauma-informed somatic and relational frameworks. Her work supports safety, self-trust, and spacious possibility with practical presence and real-time support. I...

When is the right time to date after divorce? How do you navigate online dating apps? How do you date safely? In this episode, Julie sits down with Sade Curry, a life Coach for Divorced Women and host of the Extraordinary Life & Dating after Divorce podcast. She helps divorced women meet and date good men and find a partnership where they feel respected, loved and safe. Sade is certified in Li...

You're doing well, making progress - and then a trigger hits and the pain floods back. You think: "I'm going backwards. I'm failing. I haven't healed at all." But what if you're not sliding backwards - you're spiraling upward. Julie dismantles the lie of linear healing and introduces the truth: healing is loopy, not a straight line. Think about the shape of...

Ready to stop white-knuckling through "I'm enough" affirmations and start doing the deeper work? Learn more about the FIERCE Sisterhood - a community of divorced empty nesters who are willing to sit in discomfort, pull the thread on "not enough" thoughts, and create physiological safety while building authentic transformation. Email SISTERHOOD to julie@juliesteedcoaching.c...

When your marriage ends, it's normal to question everything: "I chose wrong." "I stayed too long." "How did I miss the signs?" Your brain uses the divorce as evidence that you can't trust your own judgment, creating a spiral: "If I was wrong about THAT, what else am I wrong about?" The result? Paralysis. You can't make decisions about dating,...