Children of Divorce

Hi guys, welcome back to another episode of ‘Children of Divorce.’ Hope you are…hydrated, I guess?? Idk man, it’s what they say is good for you..

Anyways, today’s episode was super important to me; depression is something I have struggled with 4EVA! But it doesn’t manifest in your typical textbook ways…at least it didn’t for me, which is why I felt called to speak about my own individual experience with depression and how mine started in the first place. I hope you guys enjoy this episode, I hope you feel a little less alone. 

A little quote for you guys, originally by Rebecca Martin, and then I came about it through Frida Kahlo: 

"I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me, too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you." 

All my love, Lydia XXX

‘Children of Divorce’ is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube 

Find me on TikTok & Instagram under @childrenofdivorcepod and @lydianathenson

Hi all, welcome back to another episode. Today I really went off on my train of existentialism...but can you blame a girl? This life is weird!

I hope you are all doing well and looking after yourselves. Just remember, you are good enough as you and you can’t be someone else even if you wanted to! Just be the best version of you, that’s good enough. Ok. We’ll be fine!

All my love, Lydia XXX

‘Children of Divorce’ is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube 

Find me on TikTok & Instagram under @childrenofdivorcepod and @lydianathenson

I hope you guys heard me loud & clear in this ep, your girl is overwhelmed! Let’s all take a deep breath in together….

Did that work? Nope, right… yeah, I’m still overwhelmed. 

Sometimes we try all the exercises we can, we try to rationalise with our brain, we try to de-stress ourselves, and you know what, we still end up overwhelmed. That’s part of being human. It’s beautiful. It makes the good moments that much sweeter that we had to go through such tough ones. But if you can, find a way to breathe, find a way to chill. Remember what’s important to you, and what you actually want out of life!! Also…hate to say it, but it’s out of our control. You're you and I’m me and we can’t change that; we’re going to live out our lives and try to do the best for ourselves, but we can’t be anyone else other than ourselves, so let’s just enjoy the ride :) 

Ok, all da love!! XXX Lydia 

‘Children of Divorce’ is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube 

Find me on TikTok & Instagram under @childrenofdivorcepod and @lydianathenson

Settle on in folks for another storytime - this is such an important episode for me, one I’ve been wanting to make for a long time. 

The psych ward/rehab/looney bin was a crazy place to be but also so so formative for me! If I learnt anything from it, it’s that one should ask for help (cliche), be prepared to weather the aftermath of the storm, but also believe that things will get better and change. It’s ultimately a story of hope! I managed to overcome an illness I never thought I could. We can do hard things - you can do hard things. 

To whoever you are out there, I’m sending you my love. I hope you get better/continue forward with whatever personal journey you are on. Look, it doesn’t happen overnight, it takes years. But fortunately, there is time. 

ALL MY LOVE, LYDIA XXX 

‘Children of Divorce’ is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube 

Find me on TikTok & Instagram under @childrenofdivorcepod and @lydianathenson

Welcome back to part 2!! Some interesting answers…I did my best to answer them as well as I could. I wish I could just make your problems go away magically, I really do, but unfortunately I don’t have the power to do that. If I did, well I don’t think I would be here today with a podcast about all my struggles with mental health. That being said, I hope I am able to help in some way & you find reassurance in the fact that you are not alone and you will survive this. 

Stay strong out there warriors. As always, all my love, Lydia XXX

‘Children of Divorce’ is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube 

Find me on TikTok & Instagram under @childrenofdivorcepod and @lydianathenson

Hi guys, thank you for joining me for part 1 of this very special series!! Maybe you have something you’ve never said out loud…leave it in the comments if you feel like it, you’ll probably find that others are just like you. 

From feeling lonely to relationship issues to people trolling me, these college kids are really going through it. No, seriously, this was an incredible experiment, in the way that it proved my theory correct: we all struggle. 

When I was 17 years old, I was heavily bulimic, as well as completely depressed about my life & suicidal. My home life was a shit show; I had a horrible relationship with my mother, non-existent relationships with my siblings, and my father had no idea who I truly was. I had friends at school but I couldn’t talk to them, I couldn’t tell them what was really going on. I was so utterly alone it is indescribable. I remember one day I was on the bus home from school, and I just broke down. I was so empty, I had nothing…no one.

And so yeah I guess I made this episode today a little bit for 17 year old me, who would have been so relieved to know she was not alone. To know she was going to be ok. I just want to send everyone a hug. I just want to help people. 

Anyways, yeah this is super special. I hope you all enjoy it. Look after yourselves as best as you can & remember that it will end, I promise you. All my love, Lydia XXX

‘Children of Divorce’ is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube

Find me on TikTok & Instagram under @childrenofdivorcepod and @lydianathenson

Hi guys...it's been a bit of a messy start to the season, hopefully more for me than for you & I am doing a good job hiding it. You know, I think this probably is a life lesson for me or something, but I must say I am bored of these lessons!!

Hope you guys are excited for Season 2 - I am, if not a bit nervous too. But, just like in 'Annie', I have tomorrow fortunately. And then the day after that. So that's plenty of time for things to get better.

Hope you're all well. Talk soon! XXX Lydia

‘Children of Divorce’ is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube

Find me on TikTok & Instagram under @childrenofdivorcepod and @lydianathenson

Hi everyone, welcome back to a new season of ‘Children of Divorce’ !!!

Are you hype? Cause I’m hype. And by hype I mean I was up until 4 am last night binge watching reality TV and eating dumplings, and I still woke up with a 5% zest for life this morning. That’s hype.

Who knows what this year will entail. The funny thing with podcasts is that we record them as we go, so I literally can’t tell you how this seasons going to look. Hell, I can’t tell you how my next week is going to look. I’m an emotional mess right now..and I am also somehow the most stable I’ve been. It’s confusing. I’m confusing. I guess all we can do each and every day is try our best to be the best version of ourselves, and that’s it. Nothing else we have control over. But somedays I am just a bit tired of trying…

Today’s episode makes me giggle, but also sad. It was such a tough experience. I’m lowkey traumatised and will not be getting a dog for the foreseeable future. Within 48 hours I acquired both a dog & a roommate…not my brightest decision, but also somehow not my worst. To anyone with roomie issues, stay safe out there, hide from the mean mums, and know that you have a support system here at COD (the podcast, not the fish, or the popular warfare video game).

KISSES TO ANYONE NEW/OLD AND IN BETWEEN. THANK YOU THANK YOU for joining me. It means the world. Please follow & rate & find me on socials etc. I would appreciate it so much.

HERE’S TO SEASON 222222

XXX Lydia

‘Children of Divorce’ is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube Find me on Instagram under @childrenofdivorcepod and @lydianathenson

Wow, we did that! We did a whole season of 'Children of Divorce.'

I'm pretty proud of myself; filming a podcast episode only takes about an hour, but it's not just that, it's the hours of editing I put in. It's everything I've overcome over the years and all of my mental health struggles. It's going against the people who told me stop, or that I wouldn't be successful and I was just embarrassing myself. It's telling the truth when I was told not to for years. It's showing who I truly am after hiding it for as long as I can remember. But mostly, it's a demonstration of the freedom I've gained.

I now have my voice back, and I intend to use it for good. I want to help others who struggled/struggle like me. I know that honesty is medicine at the end of the day; medicine for your soul and medicine for others. I know it helps to hear my story, to hear the actual story, because it's not like a movie, and it's not like instagram, it's fucking hard. It's been fucking hard. I was in seemingly naturally thin bodies and I was a bulimic and anorexic (and don't forget binge eater!!) I went to a nice school and had nice clothes and nice holidays, but I was miserable throughout that. My home life was shit, I had no real love in my life, and I was becoming increasingly depressed. When I got to college, everyone asked me what I did on my gap year, to which I responded: "Oh I travelled to Italy & Costa Rica and worked in London." They would respond with awe, when the reality is, I was too scared to tell them that after I did all of that, I ended up in a psychiatric ward in London because my bulimia and depression had overtaken me and I was just not functioning anymore. This podcast has been liberating because I stopped trying to be someone, and instead I just became myself.

All that aside, I finished my freshman year of college! I cannot believe it really. It was so ridiculously hard; I was very down at times, I had so much trouble making friends, and my love life was about as dry as the desert, but I made it through, so to anyone who's starting their freshman year, you can do it! And to anyone who's already completed it, I see you solider, well done for your bravery.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to anyone who listened to an episode this season and those who left a rating (even my ops who gave me 1 star, all press is good press). Thanks to those of you who left comments, who dmed me saying that they liked the podcast, that it was helpful - genuinely, it helped me keep going with life in general because I felt like I actually had some purpose and meaning. Thank you to the people who supported me and told me to not give up - my Brazilian entourage who I am so lucky to have found, thank you guys. I am just so #grateful, and little Lydia would not believe who she has become.

All my love and appreciation everyone, this isn't goodbye, this is SEE YOU IN TWO WEEKS FOR SEASON 2: SOPHOMORE YEAR!!!!! AHH, CAN WE BELIEVE IT?! XXX Lydia

PS: I thought this definition was funny:

A sophomore refers to a student in their second year of high school (10th grade) or college/university.

The word comes from Greek roots and features a playful literal meaning:

Sophos: Meaning "wise"

Moros: Meaning "foolish" (the root of "moron")

Historically, the term combined these two words to mean "wise fool" - a playful description of second-year students who know a bit more than newcomers (freshmen) but still have a lot to learn.

‘Children of Divorce’ is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTubeFind me on TikTok & Instagram under @childrenofdivorcepod and @lydianathenson

Sometimes, I struggle to wake up in my bed alone, or go to sleep at night with no one at home.

It can be hard to be single. It's also hard to date someone that's not right for you. It's also hard to get over that person - I'm sensing a pattern here...it's almost like we can't win. I struggled so much to get over someone I barely dated even though I knew that our relationship wasn't right. Sometimes we can know someone isn't for us, but we can also feel pain when we see them with someone else.

Paradox: A statement or situation containing two seemingly opposite ideas that, when examined, both prove to be well-founded or true.

As always, I have no magic solutions or pills, but perhaps we'll all find comfort in the fact that it's not just us, that others do feel this way - not just me! I get messages from you guys who listen telling me that you feel/felt the same, so proof in the pudding that it is not just me or you! We'll get through this - it always ends, I promise. I lived a life where it felt like it would never end and only get worse, and then one day it got better. You got this, keep going.

All my love, Lydia XXX

‘Children of Divorce’ is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube

Find me on TikTok & Instagram under @childrenofdivorcepod and @lydianathenson