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 <description>Comments for &quot;Pssst... I Have A Secret&quot;</description>
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 <title>Feelings of failure</title>
 <link>http://www.firstwivesworld.com/community/vibrant-voices/a-j-wylder/pssst-i-have-a-secret#comment-3929</link>
 <description>You&#039;re not alone. I felt like I was wearing a plastic smile or mask over the holidays. My relatives marveled at &quot;how great I look&quot;, etc., while I felt like I had a big &quot;failure&quot; stamp across my head. I couldn&#039;t wait to drive back home and relax my facial muscles!  I was thinking, &quot;Can&#039;t they see the terror and sadness in my eyes?&quot;  But, two friends who have experienced this have emphasized that my feelings are perfectly normal, so I&#039;m just going to try to ride it out.  I know it takes a long time to heal, unfortunately, but it&#039;ll happen.</description>
 <pubDate>Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:13:01 -0500</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>deedotcom</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 3929 at http://www.firstwivesworld.com</guid>
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 <title>Failure</title>
 <link>http://www.firstwivesworld.com/community/vibrant-voices/a-j-wylder/pssst-i-have-a-secret#comment-3847</link>
 <description>They say the only path to success is to fail and learn from your failures. Have you seen Suze Ormon speak? You should see her show, Women and Money. It&#039;s very influential. Good luck.</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:04:50 -0500</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Taylor Raine</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 3847 at http://www.firstwivesworld.com</guid>
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 <title>Pssst... I Have A Secret</title>
 <link>http://www.firstwivesworld.com/community/vibrant-voices/a-j-wylder/pssst-i-have-a-secret</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;I have a secret to share.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Many friends and family members have expressed how proud they are of me. They are proud for how I&#039;ve held it together during my divorce. They are proud of how I picked up my stuff and moved into an apartment in Manhattan. (&amp;quot;How exciting that must be,&amp;quot; they say.) They are proud that I have a career that enables me to support myself. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There&#039;s no doubt that I appreciate their words of encouragement but the reality is that most days I feel like a big giant failure. I try not to feel sorry for myself because I know it is not productive but it is hard to push these negative feelings aside. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I feel like a failure for selecting a spouse who ended up being unfaithful. I feel like a failure because my marriage didn&#039;t work. I feel like a failure because now I&#039;m in the midst of a financial debacle because of my divorce. This whole experience has been extremely disconcerting and I find it hard to maintain a positive attitude. What I want to know is what did I do to deserve this crap!?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My whole life I have tried to do everything right and where has it gotten me? I dated my ex for five years before marrying and was engaged for two years so I can&#039;t say that I rushed into anything. After getting engaged, we decided that we didn&#039;t want to rent anymore but own our own home — thought it was a smart financial move. We started with a cute little starter home and then, when talk of children became more serious, we sold and moved into house number two, which was in a better neighborhood with a good school system. Again, thought it was a smart financial move. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Every single move backfired and now I&#039;m paying the consequences. I feel like I failed.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://www.firstwivesworld.com/community/vibrant-voices/a-j-wylder/pssst-i-have-a-secret#comments</comments>
 <category domain="http://www.firstwivesworld.com/summary/all/stages/mind-and-spirit">Mind and Spirit</category>
 <category domain="http://www.firstwivesworld.com/summary/all/stages/money-and-finance">Money and Finance</category>
 <category domain="http://www.firstwivesworld.com/summary/all/moving-beyond-divorce">Moving Beyond Divorce</category>
 <pubDate>Fri, 11 Jan 2008 08:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>A.J. Wylder</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">4516 at http://www.firstwivesworld.com</guid>
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