“How life coaching helped me turn heartbreak into the most meaningful chapter of my life.”
If you’ve found your way here, chances are you’re navigating a season of change that you never expected. You may be carrying questions, grief, anger, relief, hope—or all of these emotions at once. Whatever this moment looks like for you, know that there is no perfect way to move through it.
As you read Armony’s story, we hope you find comfort, encouragement, and perhaps a piece of your own journey reflected in hers. Take what speaks to your heart, leave what doesn’t, and remember that you don’t have to walk this path alone. With time, support, and compassion, healing is possible, clarity will come, and hope has a way of finding us—even in the most unexpected places.
5 min
37, two kids, divorced, and no family in the U.S. … now what?
When people hear me say that divorce is one of the best things that ever happened FOR me, they often assume I wanted it.
I didn’t.
It arrived with heartbreak, uncertainty, fear, and the collapse of a future I had spent years building.
At the time, I would have given anything to avoid it.
I wasn’t dreaming about a fresh start.
I wasn’t celebrating a new chapter.
I was grieving the life I thought I would have.
I was heartbroken for my two young sons. The idea that my youngest would never remember what it was like to have both parents living under the same roof crushed me.
I was terrified about what divorce would mean financially. I was raising two children (2 and 5 years old) in Manhattan, had no family nearby, and wasn’t even a U.S. citizen.
Would I ever feel whole again?
I had left everything behind, including putting my international career on pause, to become the flexible parent with a reliable 9-to-5 job at a renowned nonprofit.
Who was I now?
I was still figuring out motherhood while navigating a career, and suddenly I was stepping into an entirely new identity: divorced mom.
How would I make it work financially?
The math didn’t add up at first.
Would I spend the rest of my life explaining why my marriage hadn’t worked out?
Would divorce become the story that defined me?
As it turns out, it did.
Just not in the way I expected.
In the best possible way.
A different kind of decision
The pain was real.
Some days it felt impossible to imagine a future that looked anything like the one I had planned. I spent weeks that turned into months crying.
But somewhere between the heartbreak and the tears, I made a quiet decision.
I would not let divorce negatively impact the rest of my life.
I would not spend decades believing my happiness, success, or dreams had been taken from me.
I decided that somehow, some way, I would thrive anyway.
More than that, I decided to build a life that was even bigger, richer, and more fulfilling than the one I had while I was married.
I didn’t know exactly how I was going to do it.
I just knew I wanted to.
That decision led me to life coaching, and ultimately changed everything.
What I discovered is that when life falls apart, most people focus on changing their circumstances.
Life coaching taught me something different.
It taught me how to build a loving relationship with myself. How to shift my perspective. How to stop focusing on what was broken and start building from my strengths.
And when I changed, everything else started changing too.
A chapter worth living fully
Through coaching, I learned skills I wish every person going through divorce had access to.
I learned how to process difficult emotions instead of being consumed by them.
I learned how to stop replaying the past and start creating a future.
I learned how to make decisions from confidence instead of fear.
I learned how to create more time, fuel my energy, and mange my priorities as a working single mom.
Most importantly, I learned how to love and trust myself again.
I started to dream big again.
The transformation didn’t happen overnight.
It took awareness, repetition, practice, failure, getting back up, and eventually integration.
Six months after my ex-husband told me he wanted to separate, my life already looked and felt dramatically different.
Not because my circumstances had changed.
They hadn’t.
I was still divorced.
I was still a single mom.
I still had challenges.
But I had changed.
I had grown.
I had deepened my relationship with myself.
And that growth created a ripple effect across every area of my life: my work, my business, my parenting, my co-parenting relationship, my friendships, and eventually my dating life.
Over the next two years, my life became bigger than my divorce.
What started as a way to rebuild my life became something far more meaningful than I could have imagined.
As I experienced the impact coaching was having on me, I became fascinated by the tools, frameworks, and mindset shifts creating such profound change.
I decided to pursue formal coach training and became a certified life coach.
Every night after putting my boys to bed, I studied.
I spent kid-free weekends immersed in coaching classes, practicing with volunteer clients, listening to coaching recordings, reading self development books, and learning everything I could. I felt alive again.
The more I learned, the more convinced I became that these tools could change lives.
Soon after, I began coaching within my full-time role at Doctors Without Borders, supporting colleagues as they navigated leadership challenges, career growth, and personal development.
What started as personal healing evolved into a second career and a new passion.
Then came another realization.
The work that felt most meaningful was helping women navigate the journey I knew so well.
Divorce didn’t just change my personal life.
It changed my life’s work.
I saw so many divorced and single moms struggling with the same fears I had faced.
Women wondering if they would ever feel happy, peaceful, and joyful again.
Moms questioning themselves, feeling stuck, overwhelmed, exhausted, and afraid of what the future held.
Many were numbing with alcohol, food, endless scrolling, or other coping mechanisms that weren’t serving them.
At the same time, they sensed that something different was possible.
They just didn’t know where to start.
I realized that if coaching could help me rebuild a bigger and better life after divorce, it could help countless other women do the same.
That’s why I‘m helping divorced and single parents move beyond survival mode and create lives they genuinely love.
Divorce deserves a rebrand
Today, I’m on a mission to reframe what divorce means.
I’ve seen what becomes possible when people stop living in blame, shame, and the story of what they lost.
I don’t believe divorce is a tragedy.
I believe it’s a plot twist.
A plot twist that can become the beginning of something extraordinary. If you decide.
It has a way of pushing you out of a life that no longer aligns with who you’re becoming, even when you can’t see it at the time.
It will propel you into a life you never imagined was possible.
I’ve seen this in my own life.
And I see it again and again in the women I work with.
Something shifts.
They stop waiting for life to get easier and start trusting themselves to handle whatever comes next.
They create more freedom.
More time.
More confidence.
More money.
Deeper friendships.
And, as a bonus, many go on to find the kind of love they always wanted.
If you’re reading this in the middle of your own divorce journey, I want to leave you with something simple but that will change your life.
Decide today.
Say it out loud.
“I am exactly where I need to be. I’m building a life that is bigger and better one decision at a time. The best is yet to come. I’ve got you.”
And you don’t have to do it alone.
Wherever you are in your divorce chapter, if this resonates with you, I currently have a couple of openings in my 1:1 coaching program. I only work with a small number of clients at a time so I can be fully present for every person I support.
Connect with Armony on social media or book your consult call. In 60 minutes, we’ll create a plan for what comes next.
Learn more about Armony Magin Life Coach and how to work with Armony here.
Armony Mangin, Life Coach for Divorced and Single Moms
Email: hello@armonymangin.com
Website: Armony Mangin Life Coach
Instagram: armonymangin
LinkedIn: Armony Mangin
This blog is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, financial, tax, mental health, or professional advice. Every situation is unique. Please consult qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances before making any decisions. Reading this content does not create a professional relationship with Not Quite Done with Divorce or any of its contributors.
