Pitfalls The Career Woman Should Know About During Divorce

You’re a career woman. You’ve been employed with the same company for years, and you’ve been promoted six times since you’ve been working. You take pride in what you do every day and you’re lucky that what you’re doing in your job is related to what you’ve studied back in college. Aside from the fact that you love your job (and the people and the corporate culture you have), you’re striving for your family as well, that’s why you stayed to work. You want to give them the best life a mother could give. This is also the reason why you don’t mind spending extra hours in the office every time your boss asks for it. While all is well with your career, it’s not the same with your marriage. You and your spouse are no longer on good terms and have filed for divorce. The process was tedious. You fear that this will affect your children adversely and most importantly, you’re scared that this divorce will also be the reason why your career will crumble.

Once you’re going through the divorce process, you’re also going through a lot of things – the psychological and emotional effects it can have on you, and the need to adjust your finances to continually provide for your children. For instance, you can speak with a QDRO attorney for understanding the financial liabilities in regard with divorce, such as pension-type assets and the likes (learn more here).

Undeniably, several things happen to you at once. And the same can also happen in your career. In one way or another, your career may also be affected once you go through a divorce, and you should be able to know all of these things. To give you a clearer picture of how divorce can become the pitfall of a career woman like you, read on:

  1. You could suffer from financial difficulties: Back when you were still married, paying for your children’s tuition fees, bills and other expenses might have been easy because you had someone who helped you with all of that. But things changed once you’re divorced.
  • You might also need to move to a smaller house and lose your emergency funds in the process. You’ll need to be extra thrifty with the money that you’re earning to ensure that you can still pay off everything you need to live, even without your partner.
  • This could affect your career in the long run because once you’re not financially stable, you’ll look for other ways to earn and this may involve working with different employers at the same time. This kind of setup might work for you at the start, but consider the possibility that you could eventually lose focus in one of those jobs.
  1. Your health may change: You’d have a lot to take care of during and after the divorce. This might mean you’ll lose sleep or lose the time for your fitness. Your time will now be spent with your children and you, looking for ways to live on your own.
  • And since divorce can result in losing your health insurance, you’ll end up paying for numerous medical bills to improve your mental health. And seeking the help of a psychologist doesn’t come cheap. More bills can mean additional burden for you.
  • Once your mind is clouded up with too many negative thoughts because of anxiety and depression, you can no longer perform at your best when you’re at work. Your performance will be affected negatively, and you might not be able to meet deadlines expected from you.
  1. You’ll be overloaded with tasks: You’ll now have to look after a lot of things after the divorce. You need to divide your time between your job, your kids and the house. If you have a flexible schedule at work, this might not be a problem at all. But if you’re following a 9-5 schedule at work and your kids are attending school daily, problems can arise.
  • You have to effectively manage your time to ensure that all the responsibilities you have are taken cared of as soon as possible. All of these are equally important in your life so budgeting your time is crucial in the process.
  • Wearing different hats simultaneously might seem tolerable at first, but if no one helps you in two months’ time, for example, you’ll be burned out. And this can greatly affect your career. Once you’re burned out, you could lose the interest to work or perform at work.

Going through a divorce can bring adverse effects to your life but if you think this will be the best option for you and your children, go ahead and cooperate with whatever legalities are required from you. Yes, divorce might require you to implement changes in your life, especially in your career but all is not lost. You can still strive to ensure that your career will not be affected or may even improve. You just have to be careful with whatever decisions you’re making in the process. You can also consult an attorney specializing in these type of cases. Once you work with them, you can guarantee that you’re making use of rights you’re entitled to without compromising other aspects of your life.

Claudia Marshall

Claudia Marshall is equipped with more than 20 years of experience as a law writer where she writes informative pieces on law topics for the common reader. Claudia spends time with her husband and children when she has free time.