Divorce doesn’t come with a single moment of grief.It arrives in waves, quietly, loudly, and often long after the paperwork is signed.

In this deeply validating episode of The Crazy Ex-Wives Club, Erica is joined by therapist and author Oona Metz, whose new book Unhitched: The Essential Divorce Guide for Women reframes divorce not as failure, but as a profound emotional restructuring.

Together, they unpack why divorce grief is often misunderstood, why women feel “crazy” for still hurting months or years later, and why traditional grief models fall short when applied to divorce.

Oona introduces her five-phase model of divorce grief, heartbreak, the emotional rollercoaster, mending, letting go, and moving on. A framework built from decades of clinical work with women navigating divorce. This conversation normalizes the emotional chaos, identity loss, and nervous system overwhelm so many women experience, while offering a grounded roadmap forward.

This episode is not about rushing healing. It’s about understanding it, honoring it, and trusting that rebuilding happens one stabilizing step at a time.

You’ll learn:

• Why divorce grief is different from bereavement grief

• Why healing after divorce is never linear

• The five phases of divorce grief and what each one actually feels like

• Why hope keeps women stuck longer than they expect

• How emotional rollercoasters are a normal part of divorce recovery

• Why legal processes intensify emotional dysregulation

• What “mending” really means after emotional depletion

• How self-love restores nervous system safety

• Why letting go includes releasing identity, myths, and future fantasies

• How to rebuild traditions without forcing old ones

• Why moving on doesn’t mean forgetting, it means re-investing energy

• How community accelerates healing when friends and family can’t relate

We talk about:

00:00 Why divorce grief shows up in unexpected ways

03:00 Why Oona wrote Unhitched after 30 years of clinical work

06:00 Why women feel isolated even though divorce is common

09:00 Why traditional grief models don’t fully apply to divorce

12:00 Phase one, heartbreak and the loss of hope

15:00 Why women hold on longer than they want to

18:00 Phase two, the emotional rollercoaster explained

22:00 Why feeling “crazy” is actually a healthy response

25:00 How the legal process amplifies emotional instability

28:00 Phase three, mending and reclaiming emotional energy

32:00 Why loving yourself changes how you parent and relate

35:00 Divorce as family restructuring, not failure

38:00 Phase four, letting go of identity and future myths

42:00 Rebuilding traditions without self-betrayal

46:00 Phase five, moving on without erasing the past

49:00 Why healing happens faster in community

52:00 Trusting the process when you’re still in the pain

Links Mentioned in the Show

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Divorce doesn’t just end a marriage.

It dismantles an identity.

In this episode of The Crazy Ex-Wives Club, Erica is joined by certified life coach and retired attorney Meagan Norris for an honest conversation about what it really takes to rebuild life after divorce, without repeating old emotional, financial, or relational patterns.

Together, they explore why so many women remain stuck in survival mode long after the divorce is finalized, how nervous system dysregulation quietly drives decision-making, and why healing after divorce requires more than insight, it requires embodiment, emotional resilience, and self-trust built through experience.

Meagan shares her four foundational pillars for post-divorce rebuilding, emotional resilience, financial sovereignty, lifestyle design, and vision-based decision-making. These pillars help women move out of fear-based choices and into intentional living that aligns with who they are becoming, not who they had to be to survive.

This episode dismantles the pressure to “fix everything at once” and offers a grounded, sustainable path forward, one focused decision, one stabilizing choice, and one self-trusting action at a time.

You’ll learn:

• Why divorce often requires letting go of an old identity, not just a relationship
• How survival mode shapes post-divorce decisions without you realizing it
• What emotional resilience actually looks like in real life
• How nervous system regulation supports clarity and self-trust
• Why money struggles after divorce are often about identity, not income
• How comparison fuels scarcity, regardless of how much you earn
• Why focusing on one priority accelerates healing and momentum
• How lifestyle design helps you embody your future self now
• What vision-based decision-making really means after divorce
• Why self-trust is built through action, not affirmations
• How to stop outsourcing decisions to fear, statistics, or outside voices

We talk about:

00:00 Why divorce is an identity shift, not just a legal process

02:30 What it means to divorce the old version of yourself

05:00 How past beliefs recreate future emotional patterns

06:30 Emotional resilience and nervous system regulation after divorce

09:00 Financial sovereignty and scarcity thinking

12:00 Comparison, money, and attachment patterns

15:30 Rebuilding trust with yourself through aligned action

18:00 Why trying to change everything at once leads to burnout

21:00 Choosing one priority and stabilizing the rest

24:00 Lifestyle design and reclaiming physical space after divorce

28:30 Vision boards, energy, and embodiment

31:00 Vision-based decision-making versus fear-based choices

36:00 Letting go of statistics, judgments, and “good enough” thinking

41:00 Designing a future that feels expansive, not reactive

45:00 Why your vision evolves as you evolve

48:00 Falling in love with the long-term rebuilding process

The Defining the New You Blueprint is a 90-minuteguided mini-retreat for divorced women ready to move beyond survival and step into their next chapter. Through grounding reflection, vision casting, and self-reconnection rituals, you’ll rediscover who you are now, create emotional clarity, and begin consciously designing a life you love. Come home to yourself— one breath, one revelation, one rise at a time.

https://www.thecrazyexwivesclub.com/blueprint

The Club

Looking to claim your post-divorce bad ass? Put yourself in the room with other women redefining what it means to be a divorcé.

Join the Club - https://www.thecrazyexwivesclub.com/theclub

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecrazyexwivesclub

Website: https://thecrazyexwivesclub.com

Connect with Meagan:

• Website: https://www.meagannorris.com/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meagannorriscoaching/

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meaganthedivorcecoach?_t=ZT-8xCoZWQzlOc&_r=1