10 Things I Did Before I Left That Helped Me Survive Separation and Divorce

I couldn't save my marriage, but I could save myself. Here's how I did it.

I pinned this quote to a bulletin board in the playroom shortly before I left.

By the time I left my marriage, I’d been living in our playroom for nearly six months.

I wasn’t thrilled about sleeping among my teenagers’ boxed-up toys and forgotten stuffed animals, but once there, I decided to make the most of it. I bought a comfortable mattress topper for the squeaky metal daybed, set up my home office at the desk upon which I’d once done homework as a kid, stocked the bookshelf with my favorite authors, and began spending all my time in there if I wasn’t doing something with my kids. I hadn’t wanted to move to the playroom, but as it turned out, the move was the best thing that could have happened.

Because the playroom was where I learned how to leave.