Hey Olivia, is it normal to feel like your whole social circle shifted overnight?

Has your social circle shifted since your divorce? In this Hey Olivia listener letter episode of Divorce Happens, Olivia Howell talks with anyone who has realized that their longtime friend group and their real support system during a crisis turned out to be two different things.

A listener wrote in: “I looked around at a dinner with 'my people' recently, the friend group I'd had for over a decade, and realized none of them were actually there for me during my divorce.”

Key takeaways

A decade of history and the actual capacity to show up during a crisis are two completely different things.

Crisis reveals capacity, not just affection, and that isn't the same as not caring.

Fixed roles in long friendships can make it hard for old friends to show up differently, even when you need them to.

Feeling like a stranger at your own dinner table is real, useful data, not something to push past.

You can quietly let your time follow what's being reciprocated, without a dramatic confrontation.

Newer friends showing up more doesn't make those friendships less real or meaningful.

This kind of social loss deserves its own space, separate from the grief of the divorce.

“Crisis reveals capacity, not just affection.”

Resources

Need support navigating divorce? Fresh Starts Registry offers free consults, a vetted network of divorce professionals, and free guides. For more stories and conversations, join The Divorce Happens Community on Substack or read Divorce Guide Magazine.

Listen and subscribe

Listen to the full episode above, or find Divorce Happens wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on Divorce Happens on Instagram and Fresh Starts Registry on Instagram.

If this episode helped, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone whose circle has shifted. Your people may look different now, and that's okay.