Everything changes when you become a parent. Your time is no longer your own and your mental wellbeing is more important than ever as you lead by example. So it comes as no surprise that experiencing a break up as a parent comes with its own challenges.

Long gone are the days you can wallow in your sorrow and drink the pain away. Instead you hold yourself together the best you can until those brief moments you're truly alone, which are rare, and you let all of the emotions roll over you before quickly pulling yourself together, wiping away the tears and carrying on - because that's what you have to do.

You try your best not to let all the thoughts consume you as you mindlessly make the 100th snack of the day. You aren’t afforded the time to lie on the couch binging romcoms endlessly.

You fight every urge in your body not to scream and curse when your child asks for the other parent or drives the blade into your heart as they proclaim "I hate you". You push through because at the end of the day the other parent is half of who your child is and you'll be damned if you make it harder for them, the collateral innocent in all of this.

The waters get even murkier as you start to date. The rollercoast ride of emotions that come with dating - "he likes me, he likes me not" - puts you on a see-saw that you just can't get off of and it barrages through to your parenting mood. One moment you're on cloud nine and fun/yes mum, next moment you're reared up and snap at even the most minor inconvenience.

You begin to question how you can lead by example when you can barely control your emotions and mood but expect better from your child - "Why are you crying? It's just xyz.", "You shouldn't get angry/upset/frustrated at that, stop carrying on".

And it is here that you level up as a person and parent — you realise we are all human, young and old. We are constantly learning how to manage our emotions. You might not be able to wallow in your sorrow but you learn to move through the motions of each emotion and come out stronger each time.