This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 1644. Look it up and learn by McAiley Newy with the

GoodLifeMantifesto.com and I'm Justin Malik. This is the podcast where I act as a personal narrator

for you for free, usually from blogs but sometimes from books but in either case always with

permission from the authors. And we have five shows covering different categories, just search for

Optimal Living Daily wherever you're hearing this to find them all. But for now let's get right to

as we optimize your life. Look it up and learn by McAiley Newy with the GoodLifeMantifesto.com.

My husband left me after 17 years of being together. He did all the mainly stuff, you know,

that sort of thing, changing the light bulbs, jump starting the car, fixing things around the house,

organizing a plumber, talking to the car mechanic, and so on. Before that my late father failed

this role for me. The strange thing is that I had a very technical job in a totally male-dominated

field which included things like wiring, soldering, using power tools, assembling huge sound and

lighting systems, and so on. I was certainly very capable of my job. The only thing I ever really

needed help on was the heavy lifting or being too short to reach something from the latter.

But for reasons that I am still exploring, I just handed the power of these mainly duties at home

to these men my whole life. My husband leaving me was a huge shock. Aside from a multitude of other

things, I experienced something I had never felt before. Helplessness is an awful thing, and although

I hated myself for it, I found I still relied on him. The first time I had a house emergency

was failure of the front gate motor. When I stopped working, I sat on the floor and cried,

because I did not know what to do. He would know what to do, but he was no longer there, and I did

not want to call him. Then I pulled myself together and messaged a group of friends. Within a couple

of minutes, I had the names and numbers of professionals. I also asked some people in my street for help,

and what do you know? Help arrived in the form of a kind neighbor. One morning, my car would not start.

...