Ten years ago, my life took a turn I didn’t expect. My sixteen-year marriage ended at the exact moment we were supposed to start a new chapter together in a new country.
The devastation and pain kept me awake for months. Until that morning when I sat frozen, looking out my window at dawn.
As the sun rose and the call to prayer filled the quietness of the sleeping city, a simple thought suddenly flooded my whole body with warmth: I have faith in life.
Not faith that everything would magically work out, but faith in my ability to adapt, to rebuild, and to create a new chapter.
People are usually surprised when I say that my ex-husband is one of my closest friends. It’s not a typical story, and it’s definitely not the narrative most people expect after a long marriage ends. And this was not an accident at all rather it was a conscious choice, one rooted in strength, not emotion.
I was faced with a simple fork in the road: resist the reality or walk through the pain with the hope to reach a sunnier side. Accepting the situation allowed me to step into a new version of myself, one that had room to grow, experiment, and rebuild.
I learned quickly that divorce doesn’t have to mean something failed. It can mean something completed. Our marriage taught me about commitment, partnership, patience, and love. And when it ended, those lessons didn’t vanish. They became tools I carried into the next stage of my life.
One of the most powerful parts of divorce was making myself a priority again. For years, my attention naturally went toward keeping everything around me running smoothly: the home, the relationship, the responsibilities. And I don’t regret that. It’s who I am. I’m someone who gives. I’m someone who supports. But I had forgotten that supporting myself also counts.
After the divorce, there was suddenly room to ask: “What makes me happy?” “What energizes me?” “What do I want to build next?”
I found myself returning to something I’d always been drawn to: strength. Not just physical strength rather emotional strength, mental strength, and the strength to begin again.
That’s what inspired me to open my MMA gym. Not to create fighters, but to create a space where people could reconnect with themselves the way I had to reconnect with myself.
The healthy food business I am launching now is the next chapter of that philosophy. Feeding Wolves is built on the belief that physical strength, emotional well-being, and proper nourishment go hand in hand. It’s not just food, it’s a mindset.
And that mindset comes directly from what divorce taught me: you get one life, so build it intentionally.
Both projects grew out of the same idea: strength comes from taking care of yourself, physically and mentally. You can’t transform without fuel, and you can’t move forward if you’re constantly putting your own needs last.
The divorce also taught me to trust my instincts. When my business partner and I opened the gym, I followed my intuition and trusted him to share the responsibilities of running a demanding business. That leap of trust helped me grow in ways I never expected.
It taught me that strength isn’t just about doing everything alone; it’s about choosing the right people to stand with you.
People frown when I say my ex-husband is still in my life. They assume it comes from nostalgia or martyrdom. But it comes from something far more powerful. Understanding that love doesn’t need to disappear when the shape of the relationship changes.
Once you have loved someone with depth and sincerity, that person doesn’t vanish. They transform. The relationship transforms. He is family now. Staying friends with him made me mentally stronger, not weaker.
It proved that endings don’t have to be ugly. They can be rooted in gratitude instead of resentment. Gratitude because with divorce, I was offered the opportunity to choose a new life focused on my own growth for a change.
When I look at my life today, the gym with the team, the kids, the men and women who gain confidence through training, and the new business focused on nourishment and strength, I can trace all of it back to that morning when I chose to have faith in life.
Sometimes the life you’re meant to live only becomes possible when the life you’ve outgrown ends.
Divorce didn’t diminish me. It expanded me. It pushed me toward building a life that reflects who I truly am, from my work to my relationships, to the way I show up for myself and others.
It taught me that letting go is sometimes the bravest decision you can make. It taught me that choosing yourself isn’t selfish, it’s the start of everything meaningful.
It can be the moment you reclaim yourself, you reconnect with your body, your intuition, your independence. The moment you realize that happiness isn’t something another person gives you rather something you build for yourself.
By Hana xxx
Hana Saad,
Co Founder of Wolves Zone MMA Academy
