I noticed some things with myself and others. It seems as we get older and life's experiences has taken a toll on us..we grow thinner and thinner to accepting bumps in the road. Op, i feel for you and hope the transition goes smoothly. I myself was dumped in Aug 2014 and still to this day wonder why and still feel somewhat shocked.
On the flip side, be happy you didn't have to endure hell till your kids were old enough to deal with the situation. If she just walked out, you're lucky.
I avoid TV, but if you channel surf the media, (six companies with an 85% share of TV, movies, music etc....aka oligopoly vs the hundreds when we were kids) there isn't much doubt about where the Media is taking the pop culture and how male figures are treated and act. A friend, who grew up in Communist Czechoslovakia, said that "even when you know it's propaganda; it has an effect on you".
In the US Media, most programming and ads portray males as buffoons including a lot of the contemporary children's books. I'm sure this has an effect on the women, young men and boys are under pressure to become gender neutral aka metro sexual. I'm always encouraged when I talk to young men that are completely rejecting the wimp programming.
Frequently, a clean start wipes the thought process. I don't know what your portability is like, but some new scenery can do wonders. There are lots of beautiful places to live in the US. Physical work and activity literally burns away a lot of undesirable chemicals in the body, many produced by our bodies as a reaction to stress. note*
Asia and Latin America have very different cultural dynamics, and make a good reset button on occasion, for some permanently.
* Years ago, I was playing basketball in a University Gym with a couple of Phd's in town to present their research findings. We got to talking, and the subject turned to mental health and physical activity vs drugs and counseling. Their research indicated that like Abe Lincoln chopping wood, physical activity (and a routine) yielded as good or better results for mental health.
From reading a 1950s psychology book that observed and documented behaviors and mental health, in addition to the above, the worst thing you can do is eat alone, the best thing you can do is eat with others. For some reason, this is basic to humans.
Sometimes when my daughter is with her mother, I stop by my fav local restaurant and eat at the bar. It's a restaurant with a bar, not a bar that serves food. It takes me a year to drink a case of beer at home, so I usually get a glass of water with diner.....
When I had a lot of business in Germany, I found a small beer garden restaurant with basic food in the little town I liked to stayed in. I took most of my dinners in the restaurant, after a few trips, when I walked in they would switch from German to English, I got to hear about the boss, the daughter's boyfriend, honey do lists, etc.........
My two cents........