Hi Ashley,

I think a lot of happiness is being content with yourself. Perhaps when you are alone instead of thinking about all the things you wish were different, you can focus on your self-progress until you love to be alone. I like to create a list of things I wish was different, choose one, and then create a list of steps toward achieving it. Taking that first step can be a great feeling, and you can revel in that momentum at the end of the day rather than being unhappy.

Taking the time to write down a few things you are grateful for each day can also help. Take the time to linger in that gratefulness for a while, really sense each thing you are grateful for. Helping other people is also a really good way to have something to feel good about at the end of the day, and you can meet new people. Learning something new can also make time fly and get out of your own head. Learning a new language is especially transportive to me because it forces you to use new areas of your brain.

I know that being a mom changed a lot of things and probably made life suck in a lot more ways, but now you have a little human being that you can watch grow up and teach cool things to. You can always do cool things to make your son’s life a little better. That’e the awesome part of being a mother. You can’t change the way you left (I think we all wish we did something different in the end of a relationship) but you can watch your son grow into a great man.