Breakups can leave us feeling heartbroken, ill and lost regardless of how long it lasts be it days or weeks. There’s no magic way to deal with the pain but placing healthy mechanisms is very important if you want to forget your ex and move on strongly.
The body and mind experiences very real side effects when people end relationships. What you need to do is just take good care of yourself during the post-breakup period regardless of whether you are the one who initiated the breakup or you were the one on the receiving end. You can move on quickly by taking charge of your health and well-being even if it’s true that time heals all wounds.
To help you overcome this, we’ve come up with 7 ways of coping with stress that comes after a breakup:
- Don’t be silent and write it
Although it’s natural to suppress unpleasant feelings, you avoiding those emotions will slow the moving on process. There are quite a number of emotions involved in a breakup, from anger, loneliness, sadness, feelings of being rejected and not being sure of what the future holds. Don’t hold yourself from feeling what you are feeling especially during the first weeks of a break-up. You can write down your thoughts, cry or seek the help of a therapist. All these will help you through the process and help you understand why the relationship didn’t work and why you’ll even be better without your ex.
- Take care of your body
“breaking a diet” sounds a good thing since you want to get back at an ex, but it can become an easy way of reinforcing the feeling of rejection and punishment to your own self. Eat foods that have a high content of proteins, fiber, and nutrients to help boost your mood and vitality instead of resisting calories. Meyers suggests that taking a balanced diet which is a combination of fruits, greens, can help counteract the physiological stress of the breakup.
- Be active but don’t over-exercise
Exercising is always prescribed if one wants to get over a breakup. This is because your stress levels are likely to be lowered if you run or hit the elliptical. Even if you find it hard to exercise, know that it really helps since you’ll now focus more on your body by getting everything out of your head.
- Don’t forget all the good things that happen or happened in your life
Breakups can make you lose hope. And may find yourself only focusing on the negatives instead of focusing on the positives (all the good things that happen in your life) you can get into a more positive headspace by practicing gratitude since it will help you out of your moods. Research shows that your day will be brightened and your well-being boosted if you list down things that you are thankful for.
- Undertake activities you love
It’s really hard to enjoy activities you used to enjoy after a breakup. However, that’s the only way to start having fun again so just go out and do them anyway. Treat yourself to something that makes you feel good. Taking care of yourself is very important during that healing process and undertaking things that make you smile can help you heal.
- Try that diet you are obsessed with
A natural reaction to the end of a relationship is an obsession but not for a very long time. We all have these friends who keep talking about their ex even months after the breakup and this is not good. You can do all the things that you’re obsessed with since you don’t always want to listen to your bff’s complains about the ex.
- Give back
One of the important ways to relieve yourself from depression and improve your well-being is to give back to the community. It’s a powerful way of rechanneling love.
Do something that involves helping others. It will give you a sense of empowerment and opens your heart.