SILVER TALKS®
SILVER TALKS® is an online conversation for women over 50, where we ask the big questions of ourselves and prominent thought leaders, authors, spiritual luminaries, and health & wellness experts.
Brought to you by, SILVER AWAKENING®, an empowering online platform and community for women over 50 to HEAL though mentorship, TRANSFORM through education, and THRIVE through holistic living — as they step into their SILVER SAGE®.
To learn more, go to www.silverawakening.com
SILVER TALKS®
SILVER DIVORCE: The Divorce I Didn't See Coming.
What happens when the life you thought you knew suddenly changes overnight?
Host Sharon Ryan welcomes Diane Manning, CEO of SILVER AWAKENING, for a deeply personal conversation about the divorce she never saw coming. After 38 years of marriage, Diane walked in on her husband in a sexual encounter with a younger woman—a discovery that shattered the life she knew and changed the course of her future.
But this isn't just a story about betrayal or divorce. It's about what happens after the life you planned falls apart.
Diane shares her journey from shock and heartbreak to rebuilding her identity, finding her voice, and discovering that life after 50 can hold possibilities she never imagined. Her experience ultimately became part of the inspiration behind SILVER AWAKENING and its message to women: sometimes the end of one chapter is the beginning of discovering who you are becoming.
A candid, powerful conversation about unexpected change, starting over, and awakening to the woman you were always meant to become.
Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.silverawakening.com to learn more.
Welcome to Silver Talks. I'm your host, Sharon Ryan. Silver Talks is a beautiful online platform built for Women 50 Plus, where we come together and we ask really tough questions of ourselves and of our guests, and we create an environment where we can share our stories, our wisdom, and our laughs. Today we're going to be in for a fabulous conversation with one of my most favorite people on this planet. Today, we're going to discuss the divorce I didn't see coming with my dear sweet friend Diane Manning, who happens to be our the co-founder of Silver Awakening and the CEO of our organization. Welcome, Diane. How are you today?
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thank you, Sharon. Excited to be here.
SPEAKER_01Excited to be here. Well, girlfriend, our silver sisters are in for quite a ride today. So I'm just gonna jump right in. Okay. I'm gonna take you back. It's May 2021. You're 58 years young. You have been married for 38 years, and you have a thriving business. And on one day, something really, really devastating happened to you. Would you like to share a piece of that journey with our fellow sisters?
SPEAKER_00Yes, uh, let's do this, right? Let's say it out loud. Let's literally well, in short, um, I walked in on my husband of 38 years, uh, giving his 29-year-old massage therapist oral sex.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00And that's not a sight that you can erase from your memory, it will be here forever. But um, so yeah, it was definitely a turning point in my life, our relationship, and everything. And uh my husband, he was actually 70 years old at the time.
SPEAKER_0170 years old. Oh Diane, there's so much to unpack here. So, you know, I mean, seriously. So this is not everybody's story, right? I mean, divorce happens, especially we're talking about great divorces in this particular segment, but you know, in full disclosure, I personally knew Jim, loved him with all my heart, would not have seen this coming in a million years. So in that moment, in that moment, I believe if you'd like to go a little bit deeper, because there were other individuals in your house, and share what happened in the first 12 hours of that.
SPEAKER_00Um wow, it was, I was um, I well, first of all, I was devastated when I walked into that. But I, but, but the the real the real trigger here is my mom and my aunt were visiting from California. And um, they had gone in, had a massage, they had and they were ready to go for dinner. Jim had gone in to get his massage, and and I and it was getting late. So I told my mom, let you know, let's let's let's go, let's go ahead and go to dinner, and and Jim can do what he wants. And um my mom said, Oh, I forgot my shoes in the in the in the family, which is where, which is where the massages were happening. And so I opened the door really quietly and walked in, and that's what I walked in too. Um, and my mom was in her late 80s at the time, and I just I just swallowed it. I just didn't say a word, and I took them out to dinner, and I was devastated. Um, but they were leaving the next day, so I just I didn't want to tell them, you know, what had happened until I fully realized what had gone on. So that was that was very difficult. That was very difficult indeed.
SPEAKER_01I can't, I can't, I can't who can fathom that? Like to keep your composure inside of a moment like that is mind-boggling to me. Um, quick question. So was Jim aware that he was caught? Was he aware of it? Was he aware that you actually entered the room to pick up the shoes? Did he know that that happened?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because I walked in and said, What's going, what's happening here? I just out I just said, what the heck is going on here? And um, yeah, and his response was he just looked at me and said, Um, um, um, um, well, we're not finished. I I I'm taking all lifetime. I can't even. I can't even. And I just said, get out of my house, get out of my house, and I'll deal with you later. And I left for dinner.
SPEAKER_01And you were saying that to him and the massage therapist. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, there's there's a lot more to that story that we can go dig into, but right now I'm gonna pull it back a little bit. Sweet baby Jesus. Okay. So we've got a 38-year marriage. We've got, you know, your core identity as a woman after 38 years, and I'm going to, I know this, but I'm going to share this with our sisters. Is that um you were 19 when you met Jim, correct? So you essentially had your whole entire adult life with this man.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Besides the fact that you guys were um, you had a very rich life. You guys had incredible careers. You raised two people.
SPEAKER_00Fantastic life.
SPEAKER_01I mean, nobody in a million years, again, if they knew you, would have seen this coming. You were that couple. Nobody were that couple that everybody were like, I like to be like those guys. Because you just you had it. You had it all. When when this moment happened and when you got a chance to sort of like find your footing. What was the biggest thing do you feel that you lost right then? Just just right then. What did you think that you lost?
SPEAKER_00My future.
SPEAKER_01Your future.
SPEAKER_00I yeah.
SPEAKER_01Your absolute future.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's like hitting a brick wall, you know?
SPEAKER_01Yes. It absolutely is.
SPEAKER_00Um, you know, it's funny, it's it's it's the saving grace for me in this was when I felt like I hit a wall. And when this happens, when you walk in on something that disturbing, that's so unexpected. Um and when you walk in on that, your life in that moment changes. Your whole life changes in that moment. And to think that you could continue and pretend like it didn't happen or continue in you can't. Your life was meant to change in that moment. And my my one of my dear friends, I was much younger, she was uh uh had a master's in psychology, and she told me back then about the big five emotions guilt, grief, shame, fear, and anger. And any one of those emotions can be devastating. But when you walk into something like this, when there's something of this caliber and all five of those emotions hit on high on red at the same time, you literally can't think. This is what we hear women talking about, that they're they can't think, that you just are are are there's you you can't move, you're literally frozen. And it's because of these five emotions and are all raging at one time. And very rarely in our life do all five hit at one time, but when they do, it's devastating emotionally.
SPEAKER_01It absolutely is. It's an atomic bomb being dropped into your life.
SPEAKER_00It really is. It's an incredible.
SPEAKER_01We've we've talked about that, we've we've shared those experiences. So out of those five, out of those five, there was something amazing that happened because you honed in on one specific thing within the first 24 hours of this event. You honed in on shame.
SPEAKER_00Well, I felt I felt so out of control, which is what you do, you feel like you're out of your body, like you're an observer of your life because you can't think. And so I sat down after everybody was in bed, and I was sitting down, and I'm and I and I thought the five emotions. So I looked at those five emotions within me, and all of them were raging. And I was like, Of course, I don't, I've never experienced this.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And and then I said, Okay, can you remove one of those emotions? Can you find a way? And I looked at anger, no, yeah, I was angry. There was no getting rid of that one. Oh no, because I was afraid of the future.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_00So no, couldn't get rid of that one. Um guilt, I I couldn't even deal with guilt because I had no idea, you know, of my part in this. Right. Um, grief. Well, I was grieving my future, the future life I had planned, so there was no getting rid of that.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And then I thought, shame. Now, shame. This is not mine to carry. Oh. And I was carrying it. I was holding that, like a good wife or a good husband does. You hold your partner's secrets, you hold their shame. You don't go and bladder these things out in public. But in that moment, I thought my need to get rid of one of these raging emotions was far more important than my holding his shame. So I created a Facebook group. I put all my girlfriends in it, and I texted him and told him what happened. And in that moment, I released that shame. I didn't have to hold that.
SPEAKER_01Wow. That's such a that is such a profound aspect to the story. Anything you even had the wherewithal to go into these five primary emotions. Okay, like who even thinks that way? Only Diane Manning does that. Well, but it was my friend, you know. Thank goodness. Yes, yes. But I can tell you, I can tell you that you said something so I was not going to carry his shame.
SPEAKER_00No, I was not. That was the one emotion I could get rid of. And in that moment, I took control of my agency, and I felt like I had just a little piece.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, of yourself. Just a small. Yeah. Bless your heart. I know this is hard to talk about. So I greatly appreciate your vulnerability inside of this. And believe me, you're helping a lot of people just by sharing your story. So thank you. Um, I'm going to take you back to kind of in the beginning because one of the things that I think a lot of your friends on the outside of this that we're sitting in and that were watching you go through this was um it did not take long for you, uh, by design, I believe, you systematically started tackling your life. Like you, um, for those that don't know about Diane's um business acumen, I mean, she she has run some very large organizations. She is she is well versed in a CEO position. And it's almost like to me looking in, especially, is watching you look at this overall ginormous picture because he was entangled in your company. He's the father of your children, your adult sons. You guys have created this entire retirement life in Mexico. Yep. You had this gorgeous home. You, I mean, like you just you had all of this, and then you start finding out in increments, little things here and there about other things Jim had been up to. You know, and again, we're gonna go. I'm gonna go back to betrayal a lot in here because there are many women that come to this point in their life that have a silver divorce because they've outgrown their partners, their partners have outgrown them. You suffered a tremendous betrayal, a tremendous betrayal. One that you did not see coming.
SPEAKER_00I didn't see it coming.
SPEAKER_01Nobody would have. Nobody would have. So can you speak to this? You know, like when you started finding your footing, because from the outside looking in, it didn't feel to us like it took a long time. I mean, you were you were into it quickly, and there could have been some other extenuating circumstances that kind of forced that as well, which you can feel free to share upon or not. But, you know, can you speak a little bit about how you approach that?
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, the thing is, and now remember, I was aware of these five emotions. I got rid of the shame, and that brought me some strength. Um, and then it was how do I get rid of these other ones? How do I I have to take control again? So it was it was all about well, the truth shall set you free. And I needed to know the truth. Okay, I didn't need to know lies. He was lying, saying it's the only time it happened. I didn't believe that. And so I'm a strategic planner and a researcher, so that's what I did. I put on those caps and said, let's get to the bottom of this. And so I started asking questions. I started interviewing people, people started telling me freely. And I found out that this had been going on with her for over two years.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00That um I later found out he was a covert narcissist. Uh, and basically she was his new supply, is what it came down to. He became obsessed with her, and he was stalking her even. I mean, this the story just goes on and on. Um, but it was always about getting these emotions under control and because I couldn't live like that. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't eat, I couldn't, I felt like a knife was in my stomach. That's how I felt. I couldn't, I couldn't, my whole solar plexus was just, you know, destroyed. And um so yeah, so I just decided I was gonna research, I found out the truth, and um, and then I I filed for divorce within three months.
SPEAKER_01Oh, shotgun divorce. Shotgun.
SPEAKER_00And now so I filed for divorce, and I as a strategist, I found ways to leverage what I wanted because I knew that he would blow any money I gave him. And that's our children's inheritance as well. It's my retirement and my children's inheritance. And um, so I found a way to give him uh uh you know a settlement, but keep the majority of this state intact. And um he uh he he really didn't have a choice and signed and signed the divorce papers. And once that happened, my life changed. So you can see that fear melted away. Um guilt melted away.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, I was still grieving the future, but I thought, well, at least I feel like I can create something new. I'm young enough, I'm vibrant enough, and I have uh an estate to where you know I'm secure.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And then, you know, the last one was really just anger. It was the anger of it all, and that slowly started melting away.
SPEAKER_01Well, we'll get into it in a little bit. One of the main reasons why I think you were helped in that situation, but that's okay. We're getting to it. We're getting to it. So, you know, one of the things that I think really comes out in your story is the way that you advocated for yourself inside of it. You really did. You were very strong, and you mentioned it just in what you just said. You know, you're a strategic planner, you're looking at, I've got this estate, I've got this, I've got that, I've got to figure out this, I gotta figure out what his piece of that is. I mean, most women would have brutalized this guy, right? They would have, they, they would have slaughtered him, or you know, I'm not saying most women, maybe some women, you know, they would have, they would just, you get nothing. You get nothing. And the one thing that I loved about you inside of this process is that be it the love of your children, be it the love that you had with this man that you shared your entire adult life with, you found some place inside of your heart in the heat of all of that anger and all of that rage to say, you know, okay, our final chapter didn't kind of go the way that I thought it was gonna go. Um seriously, and how you proceeded to make that happen is like as disgusting as it gets. But this you're still somebody that I shared a life with, and you you admirally walk through that process very logically saying, okay, where did that come from?
SPEAKER_00Well, I refuse to make my life a lie.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love that.
SPEAKER_00I refuse to say um it wasn't real.
SPEAKER_01I loved this. It was very real.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And this is not here in a while.
SPEAKER_01No, no, it's it's tough.
SPEAKER_00But it was fun. It was we had a great life. We we worked hard, and um, but you know, we did well and we made smart choices, and we had two great kids, and yeah, um, you know, we we just and we were always up for an adventure, you know, we were that couple that always wanted to go out and do things and work really hard, you know, work hard, play hard. Right. Um, and after all of this, you know, it really came down to um, you know, my therapist, Carmela uh uh Carlisle. She's one of our silver mentors.
SPEAKER_01Yes, she is.
SPEAKER_00Yes, she is. She's the one that really pulled me through this. Wow, and um boy, I'll tell you. Ooh, having strong women around you makes all the difference in the world. Yeah, and men. I had strong men around me too.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Well, let's speak to that for a minute, Diane, because yeah, you know, one of the things that happened early on when this first happened is that you had a house guest who was much younger than you. Um, you have a beautiful um group of women inside Leda that you're friends with. And um share share the story of how those women held you in the in those first couple weeks.
SPEAKER_00Oh gosh. I mean they showed up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh man, this is hard. We could we can take a break. Um they showed up and um they pulled me out. Diane, we're going out to dinner. Oh, I don't want to. Yes, you do. Go take a shower. I'm coming to get you in 20 minutes. Yeah. And they pulled me out. They kept pulling me out and pulling me out and distracting me and um and making sure that I was okay.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00You know?
SPEAKER_01I mean, what a blessing. I mean, it's just a blessing. And we can we could take a minute and pause too. We can stop if you need any time to regroup here because I know how vulnerable this is for you.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I knew that this is okay. That's okay. Yeah, it's okay. It's just, you know, walking back through it is uh I know, I know.
SPEAKER_01So, all right, so we're gonna move ahead a little bit, you know. So at some point the focus shifts. You go from surviving to creating what comes next. When did you notice that you were no longer simply trying just to get through a day or to figure out the next step? When did you notice that you had turned an actual emotional corner and you were gonna be like, okay, you know, like we were getting some of you back?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was a sign of the divorce papers. Once he signed those divorce papers, everything changed and I could start start to think about me. I walked away from all the research and all the interviews and all the strategic planning around that I was so focused on. I put down my pen and walked away from that. And then I started focusing on myself. You know, no, now you're gonna focus on yourself. You've raised your kids, you've bought homes and fixed them up and built businesses and all this goes on. And now for the first time, you're gonna focus on yourself. Yeah. And um, so that's what I did. I just Focused on myself and I started feeling really good with myself. And I didn't think about anything outside of that. I didn't think about where I was what I was going to do the next day. You're focusing on yourself. Don't worry about anything else. You just, you just heal now.
SPEAKER_01Oh wow.
SPEAKER_00And that's and that happened. Um, that was the process after the divorce papers were signed, is I started to feel my power come back. I started to feel happy. I remember going to Costco and smiling all the way through, just thinking, gosh, you know, I'm I'm I'm free of all of this burden, of all of this shock and horror, you know, that and now I can start to just live life. And I didn't know what that was going to look like, but where I was gonna go, or if I was gonna stay, I uh stay in Mexico or what I was gonna do.
SPEAKER_01Right, right.
SPEAKER_00But I know you'll you'll figure it out.
SPEAKER_01This is a good segue into my into my next um question because one of the things that happens when we talk about the different types of divorce, and again, this was a betrayal, a big betrayal, you know. So when you um suffer a betrayal to this extreme, you begin to doubt yourself, right? You begin not to trust your own instincts, you begin to question, you know, especially after 38, like has this been going on all the time? Has he always been like this? Like, God only knows. So when did you feel? Um, and you sort of gently you you you danced on this in the in the previous response, but when did you feel like you could trust yourself again? Like it's like I've got good instincts, you know, I'm still at the top of my game. I I I I still have I I still can control my life. Can you talk about that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I think I think the thing that everyone deals with in this is all of these raging emotions. And you can't trust yourself. You you you barely know your own name when all of this is going on. So as you start to peel away and and get those emotions back into check, and then you can start to really see yourself again, you know, like ask yourself questions and and come up with good responses, and you can trust yourself because they're they're they're not emotionally charged um uh in these in these five emotions, but rather they're you know more logical and more honest. Uh and that's really when I started to be able to trust myself, is when I was able to peel away those emotions. And the last bean um for me was was was anger.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That would rage up in me from time to time.
SPEAKER_01Of course.
SPEAKER_00You know, and then and then why, why, why, why? And you get into this loop. And so many women I know, and and men, I'm sure, get into this loop of why, why, why, why? The conscious mind, we we have such a hard time rationalizing when we're mistreated like that. We don't deserve it.
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_00But we're mistreated like that. And um, and then the the the mind just keeps going with the question, why, why, why? And I just had to continually answer it because he's a covert narcissist and he took his mask off. Because he's a covert narcissist, he took his mask off. He found a new supply. And as I continued to answer that question with that, eventually, those whys that that that round and round and round of the questions that we get, you know, so in engrossed in in such a process like this started to diminish, along with that, the anger began to diminish because it wasn't my fault.
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I'm sure, you know, our life wasn't perfect, but it was pretty darn close.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, but it was really uh the fact that he was a covert narcissist and diagnosed as such, and um and he found a new supply. 29-year-old massage therapist that was going to take him for everything he had.
SPEAKER_01Karma. Karma, just saying, low karma there.
SPEAKER_00Just saying. Yeah, so and she did everything he got in the divorce, she took.
SPEAKER_01Well, there you have it. There you have it, you know. You saw that one coming. So where would you have been? Do you think? And I know this is an hypothesis, you don't know, it's a hypothetical. Um, where would you have been if covert narcissists hadn't come into like a a thing that you could label him with to help you move through that? What if it was just a 70-year-old man in his own level of unhappiness that drove him to do something so completely, you know, ludicrous.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you put a label on it, you know, an old angry man, you know, uh thinking he had found his fountain of youth. I yeah, I don't know. I mean, uh Jim was also a severe alcoholic at that time and very angry. Um, so you know, there were lots of labels I could have put on it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and there's always some reason for a man or a woman to do something like this after so long, right? When, you know, it's like I think the hardest thing is when you hit 50, your kids are graduating from college, you know, you're you're thinking, oh, right, all right, we are skating now. You know, maybe you're buying your summer home or relocating to paradise, or you know, maybe you're saying, okay, let's hit like we were, let's make as much money as we can these 10 years because then let's enjoy our life.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And um, and then boy, it's just like you don't see something like this coming at this point. You I think that's the but I was blindsided. You hear about midlife crisis. Well, that's someone in their 40s, right?
SPEAKER_01Not a man in his yeah. No, no, but you know, you said something really interesting, you know, you've got you've got alcoholism, which the disease within itself, you know, and the old adage is, you know, you're they're not going to get help unless they want to get help. And he clearly, I mean, he created a whole entire life in what is, I know a lot of people might not be familiar with where you live, but this is definitely one of the coolest, you know, hippies little towns on the west coast of, you know, Mexico to reside in. I mean, it's filled with expacts, you know. So you've got you've got people, you know, you've got people that remind you of you all around you, and it's got the most authentic, beautiful indigenous people on the planet. They're kind, they're loving, they're gracious, you know, and just the celebration of family down there. I mean, everything, it is just this big sort of kumbaya community. And uh I mean, for people that don't experience that, I mean, this is truly where you and Jim chose to retire to is this cool little beach town in Sailedo, Mexico. Um, I'm not quite sure where I was going with all of that because I just got myself on a tangent there. But my point is, my point is, at 70 years old, I mean, Jim had the world in the palm of his hand. Had the world in the palm of his hand. I mean, and he lost his unfortunately lost his life. Unfortunately, and I I am sorry.
SPEAKER_00A year and a few months after the divorce was final, um Jim uh died.
SPEAKER_01I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_00Three months after that, my mother died. So yeah, I mean the train just didn't keep going at me.
SPEAKER_01It it didn't, well, you know, and this is a this is a topic that we will we will happily get on the couch later down the road when we share our story and silver awakening because there were you don't have these kinds of events unless you have an atomic bomb drop into your world, and you definitely emphatically did. It hit you from all directions over the course of three years. Four years. It was yeah, it's bad. Four years, it was really bad. Yeah, it's just one thing I it was bad. So now, from the end of your marriage until now, what do you know now that you could not have known in May of 2021, having lived through this experience about you? What do you know now about yourself?
SPEAKER_00It's just like it's amazing you don't really realize the tools that you've acquired at this stage in your life.
SPEAKER_01You know, and bringing this back to silver awakening, you know, one of the things that you and I both feel very passionately about is helping women to become empowered. Your story is a story of pure empowerment. You you survived that. You survived something that you never saw coming. You survived it with somebody who you deeply loved, you had to walk your children through that, your adult children, you had to deal with family members, you had to deal with friends, you had to deal with it all, and you survived that. And that wisdom piece, all of those, all of those years, all of that experience, it just accumulates and accumulates and accumulates. And I do not take away lightly from anybody who is younger that is going through a divorce at all. Yeah, you know, but there is something to be said about a silver or a gray divorce, you know, for it's it's harder, I think, in a lot of ways.
SPEAKER_00It's it's easier to where you don't have little children.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00That is would be very, very difficult. Um, but from a from a uh future standpoint, it's a very difficult time because you're really at a crossroads and you're looking at retirement, you you know, your income earning potential is uh going down.
SPEAKER_01Level down.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And um, and it's a very scary, scary time. Um, but look at look at the wisdom you have, look at the friends you have. Yes, you know, at that point. And how they they they stood up, you know, and and were there.
SPEAKER_01Yes. I mean, blessing after blessing after blessing. And you know, and I mean, actually, it's a great time to figure out who your friends are, too. You know, I mean seriously, you really find out quick and fast who your friends are and like who gets who in the divorce, you know, and there's there's the other thing, you know, you can lose you can lose friendships that you have built over 40 years. You can lose that that quick if though if those guys go with the other spouse, and that's devastating too. You could lose, I know, I know for a fact that you have a beautiful relationship with Jim's family, that you're still very interactive in their lives, which is a godsend. I was I was not that lucky. I lost my whole entire clan in my divorce. I mean, I lost them all. So the fact that you were able to keep that intact, and I still I want to take it back to the the place of generosity and compassion that you came to when you decided the of how you were going to deal with splitting assets and doing those things and taking care of Jim. I think that your family always knew what we all know that you are this kind, generous, amazing, big-hearted human being. And that I mean you can't hurt anybody if you want to. You don't, it's just not in your makeup. You're you're very, you're just very kind, and you always have been that way and very gracious, very, very gracious. And you know, you're welcome. And I mean, I know I've got an inside skinny here, but I'm just letting the world know that this woman who is the CEO of our organization, you are in good hands. So, Diane, if you could sit beside a woman today watching this, who is having this exact moment that you faced, you know, what would you tell her? Just if you could give her a couple sentences, what would you tell her?
SPEAKER_00Like, I would tell her, number one, understand that all those emotions are raging. Yeah, and that's the hardest thing because you really feel like you're out of your body. Um, I would tell her to trust yourself.
SPEAKER_01I love that.
SPEAKER_00To seriously look at, you know, uh any emotion she can like peel away.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um shame being the first one. I think most people can, you know, if if you're in that situation. Um and believe in yourself, trust yourself, right? Because you're not a little kid. You know, you do know stuff and and that you're gonna be okay after all of it. And even though you can't see it, and fear is just raging, you're gonna be okay, and that you have to get out and live your life after it's all over. Start living. Don't sit in your house, don't tell your friends you can't go out because you don't feel like it, just go, just go, even though you don't want to, go for them. Yeah, and just try and live even though you don't feel like you can, just try and live, find organizations, find groups, um, engage with other women, just start to reach out. And as you start to reach out and and find new things to do and new people, new opportunities start showing up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they do.
SPEAKER_00You're not gonna have new opportunities sitting in your house alone. You gotta get out there and start moving stuff, and and then things start moving toward you.
SPEAKER_01So absolutely trust yourself. Thank you, sweetie. I mean, that that's that's just gorgeous. That's gorgeous. So I'm gonna do just a you know, small little plug because I need to to support our sponsors. No, I'm kidding. We are we offer at Silver Awakening many, many avenues to support women, and that's that's our primary goal. We have a gorgeous circle, silver circle on divorce and separation led by Kay Searling. Uh, we have you mentioned um Carmela. Carmela is one of our mentors. She also is offering a beautiful course on you know transformative tools. Um, we have a very lovely course that's being offered on portrayal by Disha. So there are several offerings inside of the world of divorce. I personally will be teaching our fall course on silver divorce, which kind of gives you just an inside look on things that you can do to help yourself in ways that you can understand this emotional um mindfield that you're walking through.
SPEAKER_00And start to move through it. That's the start to move through it. You can do this, you can move through it. It's there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you just start walking through the tunnel.
SPEAKER_01I I I love that from from from your lips to everybody who is watching this right now. I'm gonna ask you one last question, Diane. After everything that you've been through, what are you most grateful for in the woman that you've become today?
SPEAKER_00Oh I think I think being able to find myself again. Living my truth.
SPEAKER_01May all of us, may all of us find that level of peace. Diane, from the bottom of my heart, you are my soul sister, you are my work colleague, you are my work wife, you are everything. I love you to the moon and back. I love you too. So excited that we're a part of this journey. And as our time closes for our audience, please always remember keep healing, keep transforming, keep moving, keep thriving. Silver is not an age, it's an awakening. For now, my lovelies. Diane, thank you.
