Sometimes, the best thing for a couple is to separate. Things aren’t working, you’ve tried everything, and the best path forward is to file for a divorce. It will be good for both of you, but this doesn’t mean you should become enemies with your ex. Read on for the benefits of staying friends with your ex-spouse.
A Constant Reminder of Your Preferences
When you’re friends with your ex-spouse, you’ll have a constant reminder of your preferences and what you want out of a relationship. When there’s some distance between you two, it’s easy to forget what broke up the relationship in the first place, and you can accidentally fall into those same mistakes.
You’ll know what to look for and avoid in a future partner when you have your ex-spouse close. You can have the good parts of the relationship without any of the baggage that comes with being together, giving you a fresh perspective on potential partners.
It Will Help With Parenting
One of the biggest benefits of staying friends with your ex-spouse is that it will make parenting with them so much easier. The two of you will need help managing parental visits and communicating about any important decision regarding your child. Being friends means you can communicate and make collaborative decisions in your child’s best interest.
Figuring out child support is also easier. You have multiple options to pursue if your ex-spouse refuses to pay child support, and the best and easiest option is to talk it out with them. Communicating and solving the issue this way is better than taking the case to court.
You Don’t Have To Sacrifice Everything
One of the worst side-effects of a divorce or separation is that every memory associated with that person can become tainted. For example, if you and your spouse had a vacation to Italy, it was probably a lot of fun, and you made some great memories. However, if you two split and there’s a lot of animosity and resentment, all of those fun memories will become negative, and you’ll never want to go to Italy again.
Keeping your ex-spouse close is a good way to avoid cutting those ties and spoiling all those fun and important memories. Dwelling on them isn’t the healthiest, as you should spend time forming new memories instead of only looking back. It’s fun and therapeutic to periodically remember your time together, but only to keep those memories intact.
There are a lot of benefits to staying friends with your ex-spouse, so you should do everything you can to maintain that relationship, even when it gets difficult. All that hard work will benefit you.
