Image credit: Unsplash Eric Ward
Relationships make us feel valued and loved. They keep us centered and feeling at ease. When it comes to an end, that sense for security and safety is utterly shaken from underneath us. The pain might feel never-ending, but what can you do to navigate through this challenge and emerge stronger and happier on the other side? Here are five steps to help you get over even the roughest break-up:
1. Work On Your Physical Health
Many people navigating heartache turn to the gym to release frustration and work on their physical health. Lifting weights is a wonderful way to move through the pain, for a number of reasons. Lifting weights and getting active prevents you from falling into a depression. Depression is exacerbated when it is accompanied by inactivity. When you get busy and active, the release of endorphins can get back on your feet. The effects of getting fitter give you an improved self-image. Want to get the best results fast? Find an excellent personal training studio.
2. Work On Your Mental Health
If it’s rough and you’re hurting in profound ways you ever thought possible, you need to nurture your mental health. This means learning how to accept yourself. There are interesting resources available on self-leadership. Self-leadership skills teach you how to acknowledge your faults and improve them without self-criticism or self-deprecation. It can help you to foster a more positive outlook on yourself and the world. It can also help you to build better relationships with others. Working on your mental health might also entail seeing a counselor to help you navigate the pain and the separation you are experiencing.
3. Develop A Skill
All that time you invested in your previous relationship is now free time. It can feel overwhelming if you have too much time on your hands to think and analyze matters. Use that time and learn a new skill. Take guitar lessons, join a hiking club, start painting, or learn how to shoot. Find that one thing you’ve always wanted to get into but never had the time or the opportunity. When you start investing in yourself in this way, healing will feel less painful. It will empower you to be stronger on the other side.
4. Get A Companion
This is a great time to consider getting an animal companion. Many animals who were abandoned wait eagerly at shelters for someone to come and love them. Due to their own challenges in life, these animals often make wonderful (unofficial) emotional support pets. There are many opportunities in life to heal. When you empower someone else’s healing process, it can often power yours, too. Bring home an abandoned pet and form a bond of healing and hope together.
5. Start Something New
Staying in your comfort zone might feel safe, but being heartbroken is far from your comfort zone already, you might as well close your eyes and make a brave leap of faith. Visit another country, try your hand at a new career choice, pack up and move to the other side of the country.
Sometimes, a fresh start out of your comfort zone is exactly like hitting the reset button on your life. It’s a miniature version of a do-over. You can recreate yourself, have a hair cut, buy a few new outfits, and become whoever you want to create in this setting. Trying on new roles can often give us new strength to overcome difficulties in life.