Divorce comes with a lot of stereotypes. Like I've talked about before, society tends to see young divorcees as naive, unintelligent, and commitment-phobic. I've actually had people vocalize some of these stereotypes to me.
Knowing these stereotypes are rampant makes telling people I'm divorced a very difficult venture. It was a couple of weeks after my ex left me before I told my friends, my extended family, etc. I ended up telling my boss a couple months after he left, only because it happened to come up in conversation.
The hardest so far, though, has been telling the guy I'm currently seeing that I am divorced.
Our past relationships came up in conversation, and I told this guy that I had previously been in a relationship with someone for 6 years. But I failed to mention I had been married. That was dumb and unfair.
I fessed up the next day, though, and I couldn't have been more surprised and amazed by this guy's response.
He responded in a totally understanding fashion.
He said he wouldn't judge.
He said thanks to me for being honest.
Then he said it was okay.
I was absolutely floored. This whole experience speaks to a few things: 1) The amazing character of the person whom I'm seeing. 2) The importance of being honest. 3) The fact that those who fall into the rut of judging young divorcees based on stereotypes are not worth my time.
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