Existence functions in a very mysterious way; it is never according to your expectations. That is the wholesome explanation for human misery. And a very rapidly growing establishment that fits quite well with our situation is the legal dissolution of marriage – divorce.
Marked by absolute disappointment and the loss of dreams and hopes, divorces are almost always an unsettling event. There are challenges of all kinds. Legally, financially and emotionally, it’s a tiresome process that disturbs the equilibrium of a person and consumes one’s energy physically, and psychologically as well.
Nevertheless, it has its own significance in society, which is hard to question.
A small aspect of this consequential subject is the impact it has on the career of the individual experiencing the pains of an unsuccessful marriage.
No one enters a marriage with even the slightest idea, that one day, it will be over. And greater the unpredictability of the situation, the greater is the emotional baggage it carries. A person stuck in the divorce phase goes through unfathomable proportions of grief, despair, anxiety, frustration, anger, or even devastation. Overall, it is simply overwhelming. And life, oblivious to the hardships it provokes on us, goes on freely, without a break. So, yes, divorce wreaks havoc on all parties involved. But does it have to derail you professionally?
Let us discuss in detail how divorce impacts our careers.
- Impact on day-to-day operations:
The procedural formalities of a divorce compete for your attention, dragging you away from your managerial responsibilities. A list of duties may suddenly demand to be accommodated in your schedule, and you can’t say no because it’s correspondence with your matrimonial and family law attorney! Imagine this in addition to the lurking emotional baggage that you were already trying to avoid.
- Potential impact on your partners and/or employees:
Your divorce can also distract your employees from the business. The tedious documentation process may result in you calling on for help from employees which may again disrupt the flow of business.
What if your spouse has held a pivotal role in the day-to-day workings of the business? A scenario like this might result in a culmination of negative events if you co-exist with your ex-partner in the business- tension amidst employees, poor communication, emotional imbalance, degradation inefficiency, and overall instability.
Dissolving the business altogether:
A matter of concern arises if you and your spouse are equal partners in the business. In this unusual situation, you may decide to dissolve the business altogether. Or if your spouse is entitled to a big cash payout for his or her share of the value of your business and you don’t have the liquidity, you may be forced to sell or close the business to pay your spouse.
So, these are a few negative impacts of divorce on business.
On a pragmatic note, studies have found that divorce can actually boost your career if you allow yourself to gain three perspectives from the experience: space and time for yourself, a sanguine approach towards risk, and the opportunity to break old patterns.
- Space And Time For Self
Newly divorced people are often astounded by the amount of free time they suddenly have. Divorce transforms your lifestyle inside out. Priorities change. Responsibilities differ. You have no alternative but to reschedule every hour of your life. And yet you can’t think of much to do. A whole person, that too, the one person that had been a part of your time and space nearly as much as your own self, has left a void.
Now, self is the focus, and furnishing this void with your individualistic growth is the ideal deal. It is just the right time to look at your whole life, back and ahead, and ask yourself, ‘what kind of legacy do you want to leave?’
Introspect, accept and realize. Think strategically with the newfound clarity of vision, focus on the opportunities and the doors that have now been unlocked. You may even have the perfect circumstances for the career of your dreams.
- Sanguine approach towards risk
The best part of intense pain is that it cannot get any worse. The same is the case with extreme disappointments. Thus, a person, recently divorced will be prone to be more adventurous in business. Every decision will be based on the thought, “How bad can it be” and due to the unfortunate circumstances, on a relative scale, nothing would seem worse than the despair of a broken marriage.
- Opportunity to break old patterns.
From the inevitable self-analysis that comes with divorce, you start observing things that you might have been blind to previously. You naturally tend to question where you might have been wrong, and that’s when your self-awareness improves, giving you a vivid account of your own weaknesses and negative life patterns. These weaknesses that including an impatient attitude maybe or even poor communication skills, affect one’s personal as well as professional relationships. Thus, once identified, you need to challenge them and grow as an individual. A changed lifestyle adapted on a personal level will soon reveal its positive effects on the career front too.
In the end, it is a choice, to fall or to fly. And if you allow it to, divorce can give you wings. So, don’t be a victim and assert your newfound perspective on life to challenge your weaknesses, take risks, and thrive in a way you never did.
