We’ve survived separation – and we want to help you!

If you’ve been following Champagne Cartel for a while, you’ll know the two of us have both gone through our own separations and divorces over the past few years.

If you’re new around here: welcome! We are Gillian and Carolyn, and we started this blog seven (!) years ago as a way to encourage women to take time out for themselves, and to be a part of a supportive lady-gang. At the time we were both married and on maternity leave with our youngest children (I have three and Gillian has two).

But, as happens to all of us, life took some twists and turns and we each ended up separating from our husbands a year apart – and ultimately divorcing. Mine started at the start of 2017, and Gillian’s started almost exactly a year later at the start of 2018. (Since then we’ve discovered January is the most popular time for marriages to end – it seems summer holidays are when everyone takes stock and decides what they will and won’t live with for another year. Which is funny, because it’s also the most popular time to conceive babies – my kids were all born in September after some festive new year’s action.)

Since then we’ve learnt what it means to be single parents in a baptism by fire. Well, I’d done it before because I had already had my eldest child when I met my husband – but this time I had THREE. And, without going into details that aren’t ours to share, it’s safe to say relations with our exes haven’t been friendly and supportive.

But luckily, we’ve had each other and our extensive network of amazing women friends to lean on, and it’s taught just how important it is to build your community and ask for help.

Which brings us to why we’re here (you still with us?). In our Facebook group Champagne Women (join us here), we see so many of our members talking about their own struggles during the end of their relationships.

We see women who:

  • just separated and don’t know where to start or what to do
  • are going through tough divorce proceedings and don’t know where to turn for legal advice
  • haven’t dated in a LONG time and are scared to dip their toes in the water again
  • don’t know how to get on top of their finances
  • feel unattractive and unlovable
  • have lost their confidence and their spark
  • are struggling with the idea of single parenting
  • have been single for a while and want to move on but don’t know how.

So we wanted to apply what we’ve learned and bring together some incredible women we know to help as many of you as we can.

That’s why we’ve created Surviving Separation. It’s a program we’re launching soon designed to help you to make it through the first stages of separation and step forward into your brand new life. And we’ve brought together some super smart women to offer practical advice from the areas of:

  • family law – Jennifer Franklin
  • sex and relationships – Isiah McKimmie
  • health and fitness – Zoey Dowling
  • style and confidence – Nikki Parkinson
  • parenting – Shari Brewer
  • finances – Sonnee Myers
  • wellbeing and harmony – Danielle Colley.

The early days are dark, we know this. But what we want to say is: it gets better. In fact, we think divorce has been one of the best things that could have happened to each of us. We wouldn’t have chosen it in a million years, but we have taken this excruciating process, learnt from it, grown and gotten to know ourselves in a brand new way, and created a life for ourselves we never thought was possible.

So now we want to take all we’ve learnt and help you to start taking those steps towards turning what can be a devastating event into the first day of something wonderful – a new life where you will thrive and find a level of true happiness you never had before. That’s because this is your opportunity to build a world that is all about what makes you happy. And we are here for it.

Want to hear about it when our comprehensive program launches? Sign up to our Surviving Separation mailing list and you’ll be the first to hear.

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Written By

Carolyn is the editorial director of Champagne Cartel and a freelance writer. In her spare time she is a long-distance runner, peanut butter enthusiast, and single mum to three incredible humans.

1 Comment

  • Brilliant initiative girls. This will help so many, like us, who had to figure this stuff out the hard way. Mega doses of good karma coming your way. Susie xx

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