Being divorced is like being hit by a Mack truck. If you live through it, you start looking very carefully to the right and to the left.

Kerr likens divorce to a sudden, violent collision—an event that can feel catastrophic, disorienting, and physically as well as emotionally bruising. The second sentence shifts from shock to aftermath: survival produces vigilance. “Looking very carefully to the right and to the left” suggests a newly cautious approach to intimacy and commitment, as if one has learned—painfully—that danger can come from directions previously ignored. The line also implies hard-won wisdom: trauma can recalibrate perception, making a person more attentive to warning signs, power dynamics, and the practical risks of partnership. The humor in the exaggeration (“Mack truck”) functions as a coping mechanism, turning private pain into a wry public observation.