Introduction (: 00:06

Welcome to the Better Than Bitter Divorce Podcast, where we flip the script on divorce and show you how to have a more amicable divorce resolution. I'm your host, Tania Leichliter a divorce coach, a certified life coach, and the mastermind behind the Better Than Bitter five-step game plan course, where I help individuals build a pathway towards a more amicable divorce resolution.

Each week, I'll bring you uplifting stories from people who've successfully experienced amicable separations, proving that divorce doesn't have to be a battleground. Whether you're overwhelmed with grief, struggling with custody and co-parenting, or just dealing with a high conflict individual, this podcast is here to guide you towards reclaiming your life and being what I know is possible, better than bitter.

Tania Leichliter (: 01:06

So Valentine's Day is around the corner, and you might be somebody who's in the middle of a divorce, or maybe you've been divorced, or maybe you just have been going through a really bad breakup, and you're really stressed out about Valentine's Day. It creates anxiety for you. Well, I believe that we need to flip the script, and we need to redefine what Valentine's Day is to all of us. So number one is that Valentine's Day can be about loving yourself.

learning how to love yourself because we know that if you don't love yourself, it's gonna be very hard for you to love another individual or to be loved by another individual in the way that you deserve. The other part about Valentine's Day, it is a time to celebrate everybody in your life in terms of the amazing individuals in your life that you do share love with. It doesn't have to be a romantic partner. So we've come up with five different ideas

for ways that you can celebrate with your friends on this amazing holiday. Again, get rid of the lonely hearts club. Like there is a much better way, a more positive way to be able to celebrate Valentine's Day. So the first one is the self love soiree. And in each of these party ideas, we have a theme, we have activities and we have.

favors. So in the self-love soiree, you get together with your friends and you do things about self-care with maybe you bring in a masseuse, maybe you end up bringing in a manicurist, maybe you give each other face masks and you light candles and you express gratitude for yourself. So you give out note cards and everybody writes something about themselves that they love positive self-talk. You put them into a bowl and then you have somebody read them out loud.

Some of the favors you can send away with some of your friends, candles, bath salts, face masks, et cetera, a day to celebrate yourself. The next one is the gratitude gathering. So getting together with a bunch of friends and making sure you're expressing gratitude for those friendships. Some of the activities you can do is a gratitude bowl. So similar to the self-love soiree is with the gratitude bowl, you have cards and you give gratitude.

towards each other and you put those in a bowl and you read them out loud. Another way to express gratitude is just telling funny stories, going around the circle and telling stories about each other, things that you have memories of, things that you hold so dearly to your heart. Some of the things that you can do from a gratitude day perspective, from a favor perspective is that you can go ahead and give away.

different types of journals so you can do daily gratitudes. Another idea for an activity is doing a photo booth where there's Polaroid pictures. And so the favors are that you go home with all these different Polaroid pictures and maybe you all start a scrapbook together and you start putting those Polaroid pictures into a scrapbook and you bring photographs from the past of all of you and you end up doing a scrapbook party, but it is a friend scrapbook.

party. It's not a romantic scrapbook party. So the next one is that you can do is the Galentine's Day or the Palentine's Day. And that one is a pretty open-ended because you really can do anything on the night. Maybe you make it a movie night of different movies from your certain generation that you grew up in. Or maybe you guys do a dance party or a karaoke party. Just have fun together, getting together again.

sharing the love that you have for one another. Some of the favors you could be giving out is maybe you do friendship bracelets. Maybe that's part of the activity, making the bracelets together, and then everybody gets to go home with a friendship bracelet. Just some great ideas. So the next one is one that I really like, and that is the celebration of new beginnings. So if you are somebody who is getting divorced, or maybe you are divorced, and maybe you've had a bad breakup,

All of those different things require being able to set your mind towards new beginnings. So one of the most amazing things about this day or one of the great activities that I like to do is what I call a burn. So you write down what you want to let go and you end up throwing it into a fire pit or you throw it into a bowl, you light it on fire and you just say, I'm done. I'm letting it go. I am done being stuck here. I'm going to start that new chapter.

And one of the things that you can do in terms of being able to send people home with somebody, something is another journal. Again, it's a let-it-go journal, making sure that every single day that you end up coming to your journal in the morning and you write down all the things you need to let go. So maybe you don't burn everything, but maybe it's just that opportunity to let things go for the day. The last one is the festival of feast. And again, this is a time to celebrate with food and with drink because

Joy comes in so many different ways and sensory joy is especially impactful. It creates and allows that dopamine release. So when you're tasting something so good or you see something so beautiful, you feel good. So bringing your friends together, everybody brings their special meal or something that they know their friends all love and enjoy. They bring the recipe that's associated with it. And with that,

everybody enjoys themselves. And the favors you can bring home is that everybody goes ahead and gets all the recipes that came for the day. Another idea for the festival of feasts is a chili cook-off. I did this with my friends. It was so much fun. I had prizes. We had different scorecards. People brought their recipes and everybody got to go around and taste the chili, score the chili, and we actually had winners.

So if you are looking for something to do this Valentine's Day, again, throw away the Lonely Hearts party, engage in one of the five different parties that we have at Better Than Bitter. And if you're interested in what those are, you can find those on our website under the resources section. And I look forward to seeing how each one of you celebrates.

Tania Leichliter (: 07:27

Thanks for tuning in to Better Than Bitter, navigating an amicable divorce. Whether you are at the beginning of your divorce journey, midway through, or even done, we want the stories from our guests to give you hope that an amicable resolution is possible. If you'd like to dive deeper into today's episode, check out our show notes for a full transcript, reflections, and links to learn more about Better Than Bitter's coaching courses,

and how to connect with our fabulous guests. If you're ready for more support, you can head over to betterthanbitter.coach. Daily, you'll find details and additional information on our five-step game plan multimedia course, our one-to-one Zoom coaching, group coaching, monthly memberships, events and retreats, and a whole lot more. Plus, we've got a ton of free resources, like our monthly newsletter,

our private Facebook group, Instagram channel, and a library of articles and free webinars to help you along the way. When you go to our website, you'll be able to schedule a free 45 minute breakthrough call. Remember, we're here to help you reach an amicable resolution. Find your courage and believe in your brighter future because you know what? It is possible.

At Better Than Bitter, we measure success by what we give and not by what we get. So let's change the divorce dialogue together. It's time to be better than bitter.