A UK mother of four had an epiphany about her marriage while on a 10-day girl’s trip to Greece.
Stephanie Hanson went on vacation with her best girlfriends to Kefalonia in May 2022 to celebrate her 40th birthday.
“I had a moment of clarity at the hotel that I’d been miserable in my marriage for as long as I could remember,” Hanson, now 41, told South West News Service.
“I was having the best time with the girls, and the thought of going back home to my husband was awful.”
According to Hanson, the realization came to her while she was by the hotel pool.
“I remember thinking while I was away about how I really missed the kids, but I didn’t miss my husband,” she said. “I was in the worst shape of my life, and it dawned on me, at home, I was miserable — so I did something about it.”
Hanson said that upon her arrival home, she immediately ended her marriage.
“So when I flew back, I ended it there and then — and I knew I’d made the right decision when I saw his reaction,” Hanson told SWNS.
The newly single Hanson said that she saw the end of her marriage as a chance to give herself a total makeover.
“After leaving my ex-husband, the next thing I needed to do was lose weight,” said Hanson. “The photos from the holiday made me see what horrible shape I was in, so I started working out at home and changed my diet.”
Hanson began exercising and watching her diet — and said she went from weighing 238 pounds to 168.
“It was hard at first, but the motivation of being freshly single carried me through,” recalled Hanson.
In July, Hanson said that she met a man named David through Facebook Dating and the two have been smitten ever since.
“We hit it off straight away,” gushed Hanson. “I met him around halfway through my fitness journey, but he didn’t care about that, he loved me as I was.
“If I hadn’t of gone on that holiday, I’d still be stuck in a marriage with a man I no longer loved, so to be where I am now, I couldn’t be happier.”