Life After Divorce – Rebuilding as a Woman, Mother, and Dreamer

They say when a heart breaks, it opens.

But at the time, mine just felt shattered.

Divorce was never part of my plan. I came to Norway with dreams of building a life, a family, a future. But when my daughter was just five years old, everything changed. I found myself alone in a foreign country—with no family, no financial safety net, no clear path forward.

There were nights I cried silently, not wanting my daughter to hear. I would wait until she was asleep before letting the tears fall—tears for everything I had lost, but also for everything I feared I could no longer become.

I had no job. No business background. My bank account was nearly empty, and yet I had this little girl looking up at me like I was her entire world.

And maybe that’s what saved me.

Because in the middle of the pain, I made a decision:

If I couldn’t change the past, I would create a new future.

For her. For me. For the woman I was still becoming.

I started looking for ways to support us. Any way. I sold small handmade jewelry at local markets. I taught myself how to work with pliers, wires, beads. I repurposed old items into something new, something meaningful. Every piece I made was a reflection of what I was trying to do in my own life—take something broken and turn it into something beautiful.

I didn’t have much, but I had passion. And I had purpose.

And from that place of pain, Maralkunst was born.