Single at 40.

Intro.

My name is Leslie, and I’m a Canadian therapist living and working in the French Alps. I’ll be turning 40 in a month… and I’ll be doing it on my own.

At the end of 2025, I split up with my partner of almost six years, who I love to pieces. Despite all of our best intentions (and self-help, and hours of individual and couples’ therapy), we couldn’t make this relationship work harmoniously. Ben is my best friend, and I hope never to lose him from my life; but our lives are going in different directions, and we’ve had to put the story of “us” down.

It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done— and right now, I’m right in the middle of it.

I am creating this blog in an attempt to help myself slow down and explore this new chapter fully and mindfully. I’m hoping that by sharing my experience as a 40-year-old therapist— shifting lives and changing gears (not for the first time), and by documenting this chapter openly… it might be of interest or of help in some way..