The beautiful thing about hearts is that they can be both strong and vulnerable. They can hurt and heal at the same time. They can break and love simultaneously. But healing a broken heart is easier than you think. It doesn’t require a magic formula and it doesn’t need a cardiologist. Healing a broken heart starts with remembering all the things your heart loves and all the things your heart beats for.

You heal when you decide to give your heart a new life. You heal when you start to move on and decide to let go. You heal when you stop overthinking and start living. You heal when you don’t look at your heartbreak as an ending but rather, a new beginning. You heal when you remember the lesson and forget the pain.

You heal when you wake up in the morning and decide that you’re going to try out that new coffee shop or buy the shoes you’ve been wanting to buy because you’re not waiting for someone to take you to the new coffee shop or waiting for a special occasion to wear the shoes.

You heal when you go to work and decide to be present. Give it your all. Help your client. Close a deal. Write a poem. Teach someone something they didn’t know. You heal when you share your gifts with others. You heal when you make someone’s day slightly better.

You heal when you go back home and do something you truly enjoy. When you watch your favorite show, your favorite movie or read a new book. You heal when you do something for yourself. When you give yourself some alone time doing things you find solace in — small things that make you feel alive. Small things that make you forget about anything else going on in the world.

You heal when you talk to your loved ones. When you call your best friend and talk for hours about everything. When you remember that you’ll always have someone to lean on when times get rough. You heal when you laugh, when you call your funniest friend and start bursting into laughter and suddenly remember that you can laugh again. You heal when you remember that you can still laugh because life still has wonderful and funny moments awaiting you. You’ll always find reasons to laugh. 

You start healing when you slowly take your mind off your pain and start living. Start enjoying the little things. Trying new things. Spending some time doing what you love. Remembering what it’s like to laugh again. Learning how to overcome your pain.

Because life will never be void of pain, but you can always find ways to navigate through that empty space. Because this is not the final destination, it’s only an obstacle along the way. The road is still long and filled with surprises that will make your heart flutter with happiness.

Rania Naim is a poet and author of the new book All The Words I Should Have Said, available here.