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Jana Kramer shared a candid reflection of her personal growth, including in her first year post-divorce, now that she’s debuted her powerful new memoir. Kramer’s The Next Chapter released earlier this week, telling her stories of “making peace with hard memories, finding hope all around me, and clearing space for good things to come.”
The country artist, actress and Whine Down with Jana Kramer podcast host said that the writing process of her new book was “therapeutic. It’s been hard. A lot of the tears are from moments of appreciation and growth. But it doesn’t make it easy.” Though The Next Chapter serves as “a diary from the day I filed divorce papers,” Kramer has shared that the book is not about her split from her ex-husband. Rather, it’s about her own growth and experiences with heartbreak, family, friendships and more.
“For me, that first year post divorce was so hard yet so profound and I’m so thankful for literally being forced to grow, but also answer some hard questions and look in the mirror,” Kramer shared. “What I realized was that it was time to not blame, or play the victim and rinse and repeat… when I hit my bottom in this book, I realized I needed to break toxic patterns that I’ve done for a long time in my life. I didn’t want to continue the same patterns or behavior anymore. They weren’t serving me anymore. I didn’t want to control, manipulate, be anxious and not feel good enough anymore. It was exhausting and it always left me feeling empty and I was chasing love to fill a void inside of me.
“So I had to do some really hard work to get to the other side and dig deep as to WHY I was doing that,” she continued. “Why I believed that’s what I deserved. The journey to loving yourself and believing you’re enough was the hardest journey I’ve been on yet but I hope those that read this book know they are worth it, you’re not alone, and though loving myself was the hardest piece for me, it is was and is the first step to the other side.”
Kramer announced her book earlier this year, noting that readers shouldn’t expect a “tell-all” story about her ex-husband, with whom she shares children Jolie, 7, and Jace, 4. Instead, Kramer opens up about how she knew she had to walk away from her marriage, her journey with anxiety and believing she’s worthy of good things, her journey to loving herself and other lessons she’s learned along the way.
Kramer is now engaged to Scottish former soccer player Allan Russell. She announced the engagement earlier this year after about six months of dating. Shortly afterward, Kramer revealed that she’s pregnant with Baby No. 3, her first with her fiancé. the parents-to-be are expecting their baby boy around the time of Kramer’s 40th birthday (December 2, though she previously said she plans to deliver before then). Kramer recently moved into her newly-constructed Nashville-area home as she embraces the next chapter with her growing family.