Divorce is never easy, that's for sure

I would know considering my mom has been through two of them.

It's a shock every time it happens, no matter how many times you've been through it. Sometimes it's a happy shock and sometimes it's an awful shock that rocks you to your core. Obviously, the latter is worse, but let me be the first to remind you that nothing is permanent. The ache that you feel every time you think about your parents splitting up? It'll fade with time. The excitement you have about getting two Christmas celebrations? Sure, it seems like a silver lining at first, but after a while, it too will fade to normalcy. Hell, even the Sun will explode someday, so literally, NOTHING will be the same after that.

Even though you might feel like the Sun has exploded early (aka your world is ending), I promise that it's not.

Your life will probably feel like God is holding a 200-year-old grudge against you, but nobody ever said that life was easy anyway. I won't start preaching clichés like, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", but I will acknowledge the fact that you won't die from your parents getting a divorce.

But please, if you do feel like you want to die, get some therapy because that shit will help you more than any Odyssey Online article ever will (I might be a decent writer but I ain't no therapist).

Once you find out about your parents' divorce, you'll most likely either start to hear all of the fights that they've been trying to hide or you'll notice a calmer house, probably because there's one less elephant in the room to address. Neither is better than the other because chances are you'll be too upset to notice. Being upset is totally natural, and honestly, you might end up going through some weird, 3rd-cousin version of the Five Stages of Grief (I know I sure did).

Also, I hate to say this, but if you're still a minor then prepare yourself for a ridiculous and exhausting custody battle to ensue, because there will most likely be one (unless your parents are saints, in which case I doubt they'd be getting divorced in the first place). Nothing is worse than parents trying to get you to play favorites in court, trust me.

The good news is that as you get older things will get easier, so try to keep that in mind as your parents try to legally work through their issues. Also remember that it's okay to feel all kinds of roller-coaster emotions, even after the divorce has been finalized. Nothing about the situation is "normal" so it's fine if your emotions aren't either. My advice would be to find an emotional outlet (sports, music, art, cooking, etc.) and stick with it as your life depends on it, otherwise, you'll be having a rougher time than you need to be.

Oh! And no matter what anybody tells you, always remember that you are not at fault for your parent's decisions.

Aka "it's not your fault", but I wanted to write it in a less annoying way because I heard that so many times growing up and since you are not at fault that also means that you cannot fix their relationship. I don't care how many times you've seen "The Parent Trap", locking your parents in a room and expecting them to rekindle their romance will only land you in some deep shit, deeper than the grave of your parents' marriage.