Divorce. As a parent + a woman entrepreneur.

If today was my week 1 realizing I needed to get divorced and having to figure out how to support my daughter starting from ground zero in my early 40s, here’s what I’d do:

1) Trust that everything is working out for me — even if I can't see it in the moment.

2) Take everything moment by moment, and BREATHE.

Don't look too far into the future. Answer the question, "What is the one thing that I need to do RIGHT NOW?"

3) Allow myself to grieve and to be angry.

Grieve the life I thought I would have. Grieve the life I thought my daughter would have.

Grieve that though I'm an incredibly intelligent and successful woman, I found myself in an extremely difficult chapter.

And, give myself permission to be angry that I did everything I thought was right, but life by its nature is filled with learning lessons in the most unexpected of ways.

4) Ask for help.

The amount of love I was shown throughout this process was remarkable. It reminded me of the good of humanity. Put your shame and humility aside and let people love you.

5) Most importantly, remember that your child is made up of half of you and half of your partner...

If you say anything to them about the other parent, they may internalize it as how you think about them because they know they are also made of that person.

This gave me the strength to do the hard thing and create opportunities for my daughter to have a healthy relationship with her father, no matter what I felt at the moment. Their relationship was different than the one I had.

And that’s a good start.

I share this because I know so many accomplished women are suffering alone. Being a successful leader and business owner means acknowledging that you are not just a professional identity — you play myriad roles throughout the day and it's important to honor where you are in each of them.

When I finally opened up about my divorce, the number of professional women who reached out to me to share what was going on in their personal lives made me realize that we are all on our own wisdom journeys.

Remember:

Having to start all over again allows you to appreciate every single gift that's brought into your life. You learn more about yourself than you ever thought that you would. Today, I run a multi-six-figure business with a team of amazing humans. My daughter is thriving. I'm in an incredibly loving partnership. And, I have an epic community of surf mamas.

You can do this. You're not alone.