Seven Ways to Cope After a Breakup

Even if your latest relationship only lasted a few weeks you can still experience heartbreak that can leave you feeling lost and physically ill.

There may not be a magic formula you can use to take away this pain, but there are coping mechanisms that you can use to help.

Try these strategies to reduce your pain:

1. Write or talk about the breakup. When you first break up, you might not want to talk about it. It’s perfectly normal to want to suppress any unpleasant feelings. However, if you continue to do so, you’re likely to prevent yourself from moving past them.

• • You may experience several emotions during a breakup, such as anger, sadness, and a feeling of rejection. It’s important to confront these feelings head-on.
  • When you write down or speak to someone about your emotions, you’ll begin to process these feelings, allowing you to move on.

2. Take care of your physical health. It may be tempting to try and lose a few pounds to punish your ex, but this may end up reinforcing your feelings of rejection. Instead, try to focus on eating healthier as a way of boosting your mood and energy levels.

• • Avoid resorting to comfort eating as a coping mechanism. This will result in weight gain and a cycle of feeling worthless.

3. Be active. Exercise is often prescribed when dealing with stress or a breakup. This is because when you exercise, your body produces endorphins that can boost your mood. It’s also a good way to distract yourself from any negative feelings you may be experiencing.

• • Be aware, however, that there is such a thing as over exercising. To prevent this, schedule only activities that you enjoy, rather than an exercise regimen that is so hard that it feels like punishment.

4. Remember the good things in your life. If you are undergoing a painful breakup, it may be difficult to think of anything besides the feelings of loss and pain. However, spending some time remembering the good things in your life enables you to put your focus on the positive, even if for a while.

5. Do the things you love. Make the effort to treat yourself to something fun. It will make you feel better, even if it’s just a coffee with your friend. In order to heal, it’s important to start taking care of yourself, and doing those things that you enjoy will certainly help with this process.

6. Limit the time you think about your ex. When you first break up, you may spend a lot of the time thinking about your ex and all the fun times you had. This is completely natural, but after a while, try and spend less time doing this.

• • Try this process: Allow yourself 5 minutes of each hour to think about them. The next day reduce this number to 4 minutes of each hour and so on. Eventually, you’ll stop thinking about them.

7. Give back. It has been shown that performing acts of kindness towards others can help relieve depression and may give you a sense of empowerment.

Breakups are tough! Use these techniques to help you cope and soon you’ll find yourself moving forward with your life and even contemplating a new, more joyous relationship.

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