3 products that got me through my divorce
As told by Scaachi Koul. SUCKER PUNCH is out tomorrow, March 4!
Hi Geezers,
Scaachi Koul was the first friend I confided in about my own imploding marriage over two years ago.
If you have never been divorced or on the precipice of one, you may not understand the very specific shame that comes along with having to admit not just to yourself, but to other people, that you are separating from your partner. Especially if you hadn’t been married for very long — Scaachi was married 3.5 years; my ex-husband and I called it a few weeks shy of 4 years. I’d say, over and over again, “At least the “we ended our union of 30 years” crowd has something to show for it!” and Scaachi would get it. And though the divorce rates have remained steadily at around half for the last few decades, it’s still hard not to feel like it’s your personal failure. Like you’re the first to ever do it.
When Scaachi answered my crying, middle-of-the-night texts in January 2023 she became somewhat of my divorce doula. And when she told me she was writing a book of essays about her own divorce, I felt lucky that I had essentially gotten a front row seat what would be the book’s wisdom and comfort and humor that she gave to me in one of the darkest times of my life.
The only thing I can say is, and you just have to trust me: Scaachi Koul was born to get divorced (and then write about it).
I can’t wait for you all to read this book.
Throwing it to Scaachi now.
Scaachi Koul here. As you might recall, I revealed the cover of my new book, SUCKER PUNCH, on this very newsletter back in June, while recommending some of my favorite things.
Well, I’m back, and tomorrow is the day — you can buy SUCKER PUNCH from your favorite independent bookseller, or wherever you get your books. You can also request it from your library! (Also, an excerpt is in New York Magazine’s The Cut today: I Thought Fighting Was My Love Language. Then I Got Divorced.)
Some of the best advice I got after I started divorce proceedings three years ago was to treat money as if it wasn’t real. This was not the time to worry too much about my credit card limit or how many debts I was accruing (financial and emotional) or how I one day hoped to own something more substantial than a MacBook Air. Divorce is a time for triaging, and so for a little while after I became single, I allowed myself to buy whatever I wanted (within reason). I needed new necessities like an apartment or a new couch, but I also needed treats to keep me from thinking too hard about how I had just blown my life up.