Dear Divorce Diary: A Fresh Approach To Healing Grief & Building A Life Of Confidence After Divorce
This isn’t a breakup pep talk. It’s a full-body recalibration for women navigating life after divorce. Dear Divorce Diary is a podcast for women dealing with grief, loneliness, anxiety, anxious or avoidant attachment, and identity loss after divorce — especially when quick fixes, positivity, and spiritual fluff no longer work.
I’m Dawn Wiggins, therapist, coach, and homeopath, and this show goes where most divorce advice won’t: into your nervous system, your unspoken grief, your buried rage, and the parts of you that shut down just to survive.
Through honest conversation, somatic tools, EMDR- and IFS-informed work, and nervous-system support, each episode helps you feel instead of perform healing — and rebuild safety, confidence, and self-trust from the inside out.
You’ll hear raw solo episodes, real voice notes from women in the trenches, and intimate conversations with experts who don’t just talk about healing — they embody it.
If you’re tired of being told to “move on” while your body is still bracing, this podcast is your place to land. Your nervous system already knows the truth — it just needs a space that can hold it.
Dear Divorce Diary: A Fresh Approach To Healing Grief & Building A Life Of Confidence After Divorce
358. What If I Don't Fit In After Divorce?
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You almost don't go.
The workshop.
The support group.
The retreat.
The community event.
The coffee date.
The thing you secretly want to say yes to.
Because what if it's awkward?
What if everyone already knows each other?
What if you don't fit in?
What if you need alone time?
What if people think you're weird, too quiet, too much, too emotional, not emotional enough?
After divorce, many women find themselves craving connection while simultaneously feeling terrified of it.
In this behind-the-scenes conversation from our Myrtle Beach retreat, Dawn, Joy, and Coach Tiffini pull back the curtain on what happens when women step into spaces where they don't know exactly what to expect—and why that uncertainty can feel so uncomfortable.
Together, we explore:
• Why humans naturally struggle with uncertainty
• The surprising fears women shared before arriving at retreat
• Why having needs can feel so vulnerable
• The pressure many women feel to be "on" all the time
• What happens when you stop trying to perform and allow yourself to be seen
• Why connection often feels scariest right before it becomes healing
• The unexpected magic of being with women who truly understand
• What we've learned from watching women move from apprehension to belonging
Whether you've been considering a workshop, joining a community, attending a retreat, or simply putting yourself back out there after divorce, this episode is a reminder:
You don't have to show up perfectly.
You don't have to know exactly how it's going to go.
You don't even have to feel ready.
Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is show up anyway.
Why Uncertainty Feels So Threatening
SPEAKER_01Anytime you're doing something really new or unfamiliar, it's gonna kick up insecurity, uncertainty. Humans hate uncertainty. Ladies, are you with me on hating uncertainty? We all like Yeah, yeah. We love uncertainty if it's the in the context of like traveling to Paris. We're like I'm here for the adventure.
SPEAKER_00Right, right, right. But the gray area. I just want to know where I stand.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But uncertainty in other domains, like humans hate it. And Renee Brown has talked about this, like the desire to control and predict, control and predict, control and predict. And when I can't control and predict, I want to numb it with a beer and banana nut muffin.
Welcome And What We Stand For
SPEAKER_01Hi, love. Welcome to Dear Divorce Diary, the podcast helping divorcees go beyond talk therapy to process your grief, find the healing you crave, and build back your confidence. I'm your host, Don Wiggins, a therapist, coach, integrative healer, and divorcee. Join me for a fresh approach to healing grief and building your confidence after divorce.
Retreat Planning Mode Behind The Scenes
SPEAKER_01We are in full-on retreat planning mode. We are getting ready to leave in the next couple of days to meet the women in our current cohort for retreat. The women who are getting ready to join us there are feeling uncertain. I would say we're even feeling at the tiniest bit uncertain. I was uncertain about the grocery list this morning. And I needed Joy to read it to me so that I could be sure. But yeah, and I think for those of you that are listening, that maybe haven't joined a program, but you're a VIPer around here, but maybe you haven't attended a workshop or maybe you're
Easing Fear About Taking The Next Step
SPEAKER_01afraid to take the next step. We just want you to hear us in planning mode what we're excited about this week, headed for retreat, so that it takes that little bit of uncertainty out of it. Like, who are these people? What are they doing? What's this program like? What's gonna happen to me? Am I gonna die? Anxiety feels like that sometimes. So yeah, this is just sort of a behind-the-scenes look at us feeling into like what retreat is gonna look like for us, 2026 at Myrtle Beach.
How To Get The Full Episode
SPEAKER_01You can access the full episode by becoming a premium subscriber, which is just five dollars a month. Scroll down to the show notes and click the link where you'll get your very own individualized RSS feed for your podcast app. You can find more at mycoachdawn.com
