Read This If You’re Currently Heartbroken

I know your pain. I know you’re in a crumpled heap, facing the disillusionment that threatens to burn all your dreams. I may not know the specific circumstances, or the unique factors that make it more difficult than it is already. But I do know that it is hard, and you’re not really sure where to find relief. Unfortunately, there’s no prescription or home remedy for heart break. You’ll be told over and over that it takes time, but that seems unfathomable when time is crawling by at painfully slow pace.

Do not let anyone downplay the severity of your emotional pain.

They are not the ones who have to go home and battle it alone. Heartbreak is a universal experience, but that does not mean we all feel it in the same way.

But you will move on and it will get better. The bad news is that it won’t be immediate, but that’s okay.

Do you remember when you were little? When your teeth would fall out and you’d walk around toothless for a long time before another came back in? No one scrutinized your appearance, because it’s something that happens to everyone. You weren’t upset because you knew it was a part of growing up. You would get newer, stronger teeth to fill the void your old ones left.

Heartbreak is a little like losing a tooth.

It is something we all experience at one point or another. Heartbreak is one of greatest catalysts for change. When else do you dye your hair a crazy color on a whim? When else do you take a spontaneous trip to somewhere you’ve never been? When else would you write the songs, the poetry, the stories, that every broken person will take solace in? How else does one discover parts of themselves that they never knew existed?

You can do amazing things when you’re heartbroken, when your life has been turned upside down. Resisting the urge to give up is amazing in itself. You can grow immensely from this experience. You can emerge stronger and wiser because of it. Right now you may be in a painful, dark place. It’s possible you have never felt this broken before. But I promise you, eventually, you will make it to the other side.

The days that drag by will turn into weeks and months, and you’ll eventually hit that spellbinding realization that the worst of it is behind you. You will get past this. Until you do, trust the process.

Right now, you’re not okay, and that’s okay. You will be.