The primary legal goal of a divorce in North Carolina is to officially end the marriage and legally separate your life from your spouse’s. This includes addressing your marital property and custody of your children, for example.
However, a divorce changes your entire life, not just the legal aspects of it. As you navigate the changes it brings, you may have to reevaluate your current goals and even set new ones in your personal life.
Consider your priorities in your life
In this stage as you approach a divorce, it will be the most productive to assess your new goals in terms of what is most important to you. For example, it may help to consider:
- What are your parenting goals? After dividing parenting duties for so long while you were married, it can be overwhelming to imagine taking on all of them, even if it is just during your parenting time. You should consider what goals can help you manage these parenting duties, maintain a similar routine across households and comply with your parenting plan. (Planning for fun goals, such as starting new traditions with your children, is just as important.)
- What are your financial goals? As discussed in the previous blog post, your financial situation will likely change after a divorce. It will be essential to rethink your short-term and long-term financial goals, particularly if the divorce impacted your retirement savings or living situation.
- What are your health goals? Maybe you have not always prioritized yourself or your mental wellbeing. Now may be the time to consider this, as many studies show how the stress of a divorce can affect your mental health, and in turn your physical health.
Of course, the next step after setting a goal is sticking to it. Verywell Mind advises that when setting goals, it is helpful to be intentional, specific and realistic in order to succeed in achieving your goals. In part two of this blog post, we will discuss strategies to do just that particularly in terms of a divorce.