I Threw Myself Into My Work And Career
Effectiveness: 10/10
The breakup might have hurt my heart, but it helped solidify my career and my professional goals. Since the breakup, Ive been offered two competitive jobs in public health and a fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I have been motivated to study for graduate and law school entrance exams. I have been able to dedicate myself to my work, with no distractions.
The freedom of not needing to consider another persons aspirations has been a saving grace for my self-love, as Ive enthusiastically fed my ambition. I accepted a new job with a better title, and transitioned back into a field of work that I am passionate about, gender-based violence prevention. At 22 years old, I gave my first lecture to university students, on sex trafficking and wartime sexual violence as human rights abuses.
Ive submitted presentation proposals to three academic conferences, written several papers, and co-authored a book chapter on sexual violence prevention. I have joined the Toastmasters public speaking group, improved my rhetorical skills, and explored opportunities in political journalism. In short, I have achieved, in spite of and because of the heartbreak. I have learned never to underestimate the power of a woman in love, or the power of a woman recently out of it.
Downsides: There are no downsides here!
Expert opinion: Breakups make you feel out of control, Larson said. They take agency away from you.
Embrace What Youre Feeling
Many people struggle with denial and cant accept the reality that the relationship is over.
Thats why the healing process will be different for anyone. It takes time to accept reality and move on.
You should focus more on yourself and understand what youre feeling.
You cant do it by over socializing, meeting new guys, or going to gatherings.
Thats a slight form of avoidance.
Instead, take trips by yourself, read books, and surround yourself with people or things that remind you of your true self.
Write About It In A Journal
Ive always kept a journal. After breaking up with my first serious boyfriend of one year, I flipped back to an entry I wrote three months into the relationship and saw that I had written something like, Am I even attracted to him? Three months in! Such a red flag. Right then I decided to reread my journal entries more often. Journaling continues to help when I date other people now, and with a lot of other things in my life. I like to turn back to what Ive written and try to notice patterns. For example: With the person Im currently dating, one time I saw that I had written the same kinds of sentences I previously wrote about my ex, complaining about the way we were texting. It helped me realize that often if Im journaling about a problem, Im usually just afraid to communicate what I need from someone. Journaling helps me know when to speak up.
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Thinking About A New Relationship
It’s a good idea to take some time out before beginning another relationship. Think about what you want in your next relationship, such as having more independence or being more honest with the other person. And what you expect from them.
Its important to remember that being in a relationship wont necessarily make you feel happier. Getting more confident and comfortable about being single is also a healthy step forward.
Write Letters To Your Exbut Dont Send Them
Speaking of writing, Orbuch advises writing a letter or letters to your exbut dont stamp it or click send. Write down how you feel, how the breakup is affecting you, and anything else youd hypothetically like to tell that person.
Do it weekly, if you want, so you can record how your emotions are shifting as time goes on and you start to get over the breakup. It has nothing to do with getting the partner back or telling the partner whats happening, Orbuch says. Its a way of you getting closure and you letting go of a lot of the emotional baggage connected to the past.
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Don’t Drop Your Routines
Romantic breakups are among the most common, yet somehow underrated, traumatic events in our lives. Perhaps because breakups are so universal, most people discuss them openly with each other and are sympathetic. On the other hand, precisely because of the frequency of breakups, people can minimize how deeply hurtful and damaging a breakup really can be for an individual.
Romantic relationships bring out intense emotions that often override logic or explanation. They often tie to deep-seated feelings about our own worthiness from childhood, our parental and peer relationships, and more. When a relationship ends, even on relatively good terms, there is still an emotional reckoning taking place the end of something we may have hoped would be continuous, which was based on mutual adoration. After a breakup, there is still a feeling of rejection, something fundamental, something that says we cannot be together as before. That’s a tough blow for anyones ego. When a breakup is unexpected or sudden, the rejection can be even more intense or traumatic. The rupture to ones self-esteem, the end of one’s plans and hopes, and the reminder of ones past sense of rejection or failure can all be devastating.
1. Take some time off and let it out.
2.Listen to sad music.
In the short term, it might reinforce or flare up painful memories, but it also normalizes the grief you are feeling so that you know you’re not alone.
3. Talk to supportive people.
4.Read books about breakups.
Do Avoid Using Social Media As Much As Possible
Social media creates an environment for stalking and unhealthy fixation, along with opportunities for passive-aggressive bullying, Parker says.
Taking some time away from social media can be helpful after a breakup. This ensures you dont end up souring your mood by coming across photos of your ex or photos of seemingly picture-perfect couples.
If you do use social media after your breakup, Parker recommends using it only to connect with and gain support from friends and family. For example, you might consider temporarily deleting the Facebook app from your phone and using Messenger to chat.
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Ditch The Routine And Have Fun Together
Its easy to get stuck in a routine when youve been in a relationship for a while. While routines can be good, its probably time to change things up if you find that youre starting to neglect one another unintentionally.
Do you sit next to each other on the couch every night after dinner, watching TV until someone falls asleep? You might want to ditch that routine. Instead, consider turning off the TV a few nights a week. Play a fun game, take a walk, or listen to music together. Interacting during a game or a walk offers much more quality time than watching TV might.
What Are The 5 Stages Of A Breakup
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D., first introduced the stages of grief in her book, On Death and Dying . These have since become a popular framework to provide understanding into the grief process. Although we typically associate grief with the death of a loved one, grief is, at its most basic level, the feeling of loss.
Handling this grief, then, is your challenge. Not only for what has been lost in terms of your ex the routines and rituals you shared, the in-jokes, the closeness, the challenges faced and overcome but also the loss of visions for the future, or plans you may have made.
Grief, then, is very real, and a breakup feels like a type of death. Accordingly, Kubler-Ross model can be applied to the 5 stages of a breakup. They are:
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Forgive Your Ex And Yourself
The means of dealing with the guilt of having been the cause, or having broken up with your partner, is to acknowledge this emotion you’re feeling, and then forgive yourself, and seek the same, if you’re the cause of the breakup, or your reasons for ending the relationship were groundless.
Forgiving yourself displays your acceptance you’re the cause of the breakup. Thereby, it offers you an opportunity to straighten the crooked paths in your life so that you become a better you in all aspects of your life.
You should forgive your ex if they were the cause of the breakup. You can choose to forgive them without telling them or letting them know you’ve forgiven them for hurting you. Also, you should forgive them for breaking up with you if you feel they weren’t justified to do so.
The most common negative emotions that sprouts from a breakup are anger, bitterness, and hatred. These three emotions are a clear indication of how much you loathe your ex . They act as a wake-up call to take the necessary steps of forgiving your ex, or yourself, so that they don’t influence your life negatively.
Remember, forgiving yourself and/or your ex doesn’t translate to overpassing your behaviors or attitudes, or those of your ex, that might have led to the break up. It means you’ll not let the negative emotions – anger, bitterness, hatred – enslave you to their whims.
Q: How Can You Deal With The End Of A Relationship In A Healthy Way
A: As you grieve, keep the following strategies in mind.
Its also important to know when to seek professional help, Dr. Borland says.
If youre experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety especially if youre having thoughts of hurting yourself or someone else find a mental health professional who can help.
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How To Recover From A Breakup
An individual undergoing a break up will utilise a variety of techniques in an attempt to alleviate the ‘unbearable’ emotional pain felt.
The methods used to relieve the pain can either prolong the pain felt, or lessen its severity. Also, the techniques used can either lengthen or shorten the recovery time. Furthermore, the methods employed can either quicken or delay the healing process from commencing.
Remember, the duration of recovery depends on a variety of reasons other than the methods utilised to recover from a break up. They include:
- How long you have been in the relationship.
- How much you have invested in the relationship.
- Your personality.
- The reason for the break up.
- How you responded to the break up.
The following are techniques you can employ to allow the healing process to commence, and get past the break up.
Avoid Holding Yourself To A Deadline
Pop culture is rich with a gamut of unfounded equations for moving on after a breakup. Take, for example, the oft-citedSex and the Citytheory that it takes half as long as the relationship lasted to get over an ex. While most people would wish this were accurate, the truth is, getting over a breakup is a far more nuanced undertaking than some generalized calculation. Your own timeline will depend on your unique situation and personality, so avoid holding yourself to a deadline.
Healing from a breakup is like moving throughgrief after any loss, points out, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Manhattan. It is an ugly, messy process with no definitive time frame for how long it will take.
To lose a boyfriend, girlfriend or partner in a breakup can be considered like the loss of a loved one in death. Missing that romantic connection is challenging and complicated. In the aftermath of a breakup, the feelings of hurt and anger, and memories of happiness and trust represent an opportunity to heal, but time can be the important factor in returning to your sense of normal take all the time that you need.
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Don’t Rush Into The Dating Game Too Soon
If you do find yourself ranting about your last relationship while on a Tinder date, that’s a clear sign that you need more time, Lester says.
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“While meeting new people can be a great way to realize there are plenty more fish in the sea, you don’t want to be sobbing about your ex over drinks,” she adds.
Effective Coping To Heal From A Breakup
To heal from a breakup, you have to encounter your feelings. Allow space for all of them: grief, sadness, relief, shame, anger, and anything else that comes up.
You need to mourn your relationship.
The relationship was a huge part of your life, your idea of yourself, and your plans for the future. Now it is gone, and those ideas are undergoing the painful process of change.
That said, keep in mind grief is very individual. Everyone has their own timeline. But the key is always taking the time to process your feelings before you move on. Allow yourself to cry and experience the heartbreak for as long as it takes.
It can also be helpful to talk with a friend or journal for the opportunity to name what youre feeling. Research has shown that when you can identify and label your feelings they are easier to manage
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Try To Stop Ruminating
According to Freud, intense emotions can trigger negative memories or feelings. This makes you remember what youve gone through.
After the breakup, youre stuck in blame, guilt, shame, and unforgiveness.
Youre caught in a vicious circle. You reminisce on memories.
Remembering your past conversations and how he made you feel, hinders you from healing.
To recover from a breakup and stop ruminating, you need to face reality.
You cannot erase the memories, but try to detach yourself from fantasizing about him.
You can do it by appreciating good times but learning from past mistakes.
What Is The Fastest Way To Get Over A Breakup
For Gundle, the fastest way to get over a breakup is to develop a story of what the relationship meant to you, and make it no longer than a paragraph. Is this a story about you struggling to give yourself sexual license and you learned that with him and you can take it with you? Is this a story about you trying new things? In other words, reflect on the relationship and all of the positive things it might have brought youincluding anything it taught you.
She also recommends trying to understand what happenedeven if that means answering each others questions after it all went down. It’s much, much more effective to have two people in the room to do that, but obviously, that’s not always possible,” she says.
For those of us who cant get a hold of our ex, or just cant bear to face them again, either spend some time alone or with a therapist and ask yourself initial questions to start creating the narrative, like: What did this relationship mean to you? How can you locate your responsibility in this?
In the meantime, here are 20 things you can do to help you move on a little every day, brought to you by the pros.
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I Said Yes To Every Social Invitation
Effectiveness: 9/10
For the first few weeks following the breakup, I vowed to accept every social invitation that came my way. This was the best decision I could have possibly made. I bought myself new bathing suits and went to the beach. I took selfies in the sun. I went to cast parties and had a snuggle pile on a damp lawn with other tipsy theater kids. I kissed my co-stars and crooned along to Sara Bareilles and played Never Have I Ever around a fire pit. I went clubbing for the first time since I started seeing my ex. I found my freedom.
The clubbing was especially liberating. After the breakup, I reveled and rebelled. I went out to gay bars and embraced my bisexuality, distancing myself from my previous relationship and reasserting my queer identity. I danced on the tops of bars and on club stages. I wore my shortest skirts, highest heels, and reddest lipstick. I dove into my Snapchat story with gusto. I got number after number, smiled as widely as I could, and left the clubs exhausted, sore, satisfied, and solo. I slept starfish on my bed and gave myself permission to take up all the space.
After my breakup, I extended friendship feelers in all directions. I let myself be swept along to late-night karaoke and cozy taverns, polo matches, and long walks through Newport. I basked in new people, and found myself feeling more and more at home in my own skin.
