On Elizabeth's first date with the father of her son, he whisked her away interstate on a plane for the weekend. Over time their relationship deepened and life was good. Very good. Elizabeth was progressing in her career as her journalist, they had bought their dream house, and they got engaged. She then unexpectedly fell pregnant, which although was a shock, was fine because (she thought) she had met the man of her dreams.

Elizabeth knew in her gut that something was wrong in the relationship, but pushed problems under the carpet and justified the problems with the good things in their relationship. That is until the night she discovered her fiancé's infidelity. Her son was 8 months old at the time.

Elizabeth describes that moment in her life as a bookmark. She recalls collapsing and howling with grief, completely overcome with what was happening and unable to know how to get up off the floor. There was the Elizabeth before that moment, and the Elizabeth after that moment. Never the same again.

In this episode, Elizabeth shares her story.

Elizabeth also discusses:

• The spiritual guidance that took over her in those few hours after learning about the infidelity and how that helped her to carry on being a mum to her baby.
• The importance of role modelling to her son what she was going to stand for as a woman, and wanting him to have two parents happy apart rather than unhappy together.
• What the infidelity did to her and how she blamed herself and struggled with her sense of self-worth.
• Dealing with the loss of her dreams.
• How she relished in being a victim and how it validated her anger, but how she eventually felt the need to move out of that headspace and take charge of her life.
• Rebuilding after the infidelity and what helped her heal.
• The benefits she has found being a single mum and how becoming a single mum has helped form an incredible bond between herself and her son.
• Moving on and dating.
• The difficulty of co-parenting after infidelity.
• Her she developed anxiety and started having panic attacks and how that led to realising the importance of self-care and further healing.

Elizabeth is an amazing woman, and she describes how ultimately she is grateful for this experience because it taught her the importance of resilience and independence. A must listen!

Links mentioned in the episode:

Read more, and sign up to the online program for single mothers - Don't Just Survive, THRIVE! - here.

Check out Elizabeth's blog - Bambi and Baby - HERE.

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram here.

To contact Julia, email: [email protected].

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