In our experience
Mum-of-two Nicky Bright, 51, from the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, went into shock when her husband left her. But five years later, she has completely turned her life around. For 25 years, I thought I had the perfect marriage. But in the space of a few hours, it was all over.
My ex and I fell in love at 20, and built a fantastic life together. I worked as a store manager, and he worked for a bank. We had a lovely home and two children.
Then one day at work, in 2017, I received a panicked phone call from my son, who was 21 at the time. He said his dad was leaving us. I rushed home, thinking it must be some kind of awful mistake – but it was true.
I’d never had the slightest clue that he was unhappy, but my husband wanted out.
I was traumatised. For weeks, I cried around the clock. I couldn’t eat and couldn’t think straight. I felt like I was having a constant panic attack. Life felt unbearable. The kids were in shock too. We were all reeling.
I was approaching my 50s, my husband had gone, and the kids were growing up fast and would be leaving home in a few years. The void petrified me.
I dragged myself into work, knowing my income mattered more than ever. I had been a top performer at my company, but a year after the split, I was ‘managed out’ of my job. The house was up for sale, but we couldn’t find a buyer, and I was living on my savings.
Without work, I took to my bed for days on end. My parents helped with bills, and the children did everything they could to make me feel better, cleaning the house and buying me flowers. But I couldn’t lift myself out of the darkness. It was very scary. Then one day, around two years after the split, I heard the kids, then aged 18 and 23, whispering outside my room. They were scared to come in because they thought I’d killed myself. As I lay there in the dark, I realised I had to find a way forward.
I started forcing myself to get up and go for walks, and as I walked, I listened to motivational podcasts. Slowly, rather than thinking about what I’d lost, I began to focus on what I still had.
To get an income, I put our home on Airbnb. My daughter was at uni, and my son and I could stay with my parents or friends whenever the house was rented, so the arrangement worked well.
The house proved popular because I’d made it beautiful – interior design is one of my passions.
I soon became so inspired that I began styling and managing holiday lets for other people, and formed my own small business. When we finally sold the mari
