There are few things harder than going through a romantic breakup.
Loss, grief, sadness, hurt, and anger seem like a constant part of each day; and it seems impossible that these feelings will ever run their course.
Guess what? That’s totally normal.
Experiencing a breakup means going through a major loss. Everything we have built our days around seems to shift, a person we have invested so much love and energy in is no longer present, and a part of our life that we loved seems to have suddenly vanished.
The big secret: it’s natural - even healthy - to feel all the emotions of loss.
And even as you’re feeling terrible - there are some easy things that you can do today to come out stronger on the other side.
Let’s take a look at two of those essential ways of coming out of a breakup stronger.
Allow Yourself Time to Grieve
“Grieving is a natural and healthy component of letting a relationship go,” says an article in Psychology Today.
In fact, grief is an essential part of going through a breakup. Without fully processing our grief, we hold onto those feelings - sometimes for years into the future; carrying unresolved issues into the next stages of our life.
Processing grief will be essential to your future self, as Psychologist, Jill P. Weber Ph.D. says, “If we don’t do this work, we are bound to repeat the same mistakes in our next relationships.”
Too often, we tell ourselves that we should be feeling better - long before it’s time. Instead, give yourself permission to feel all those feelings of grief - from anger to sadness, confusion to hurt.
Keep Moving Forward
While it’s essential to give yourself time to grieve, it’s also critical to continue investing in your life moving forward.
A breakup is extremely painful - but remember that it doesn’t define you. Your life is not about this breakup, even if it might feel like that right now. Instead, think of this breakup as something that happened during your life.
Resilient people, as the Huffington Post points out, “...don’t allow a breakup to pervade their sense of identity,”
Instead of letting this breakup become a part of your identity, and dropping out of your life - reinvest in your identity and your life.
Stay committed to your work, strengthen your friendships, eat healthy foods, and continue to be active. Investing in yourself by staying engaged is one of the most important and powerful ways to keep yourself strong after a breakup.
Trust That You Are Resilient
You will get through this, and you’ll thrive when you reach the other side.
You are an amazing person, with a bright future ahead. Give yourself time to grieve, while still moving forward with your life, and you’ll find yourself stronger, healthier, more knowledgeable, and more resilient as time goes by.
Summary of Part II: Part two of this article will look at how you can nurture your physical, emotional, spiritual, and social self in order to emerge stronger after a breakup.
