Anyone who has been in a breakup knows that the worst part is moving on.
Of course, there's that "acceptable mourning period" when everyone is super understanding about your red puffy eyes from the crying and the isolation from others, but as soon as that mourning period is over, everybody expects you to be moved onto another happy relationship as if the last one never happened.
Your friends try to be there for moral support as much as they can. They may hold your hand while you talk about how you're feeling (even though they can't even understand what you're saying in between the sobs). Or they may just sign you up on Tinder and get you some rebound dates (they're trying their hardest).
So you eat some of your favorite ice cream and you watch that one movie (ten in my case) that makes it all better. But before you know it, your mourning period is over.
It is definitely not going to be easy. Heartbreak comes in waves. You can't just be completely over somebody in a month or two. (My friends gave me a three-month mourning period, yet here I am eight months later writing this article and afraid of falling in love.)
Sometimes being alone is just what we need though. In these months of being single, I have learned that it is so healthy for me to be alone (relationship-wise). It helped me find myself and remember who I am without significant other. And as long as you keep yourself in the company of good friends who care about you, it won't get so lonely.
Being alone made me remember some things that I never focused on when I was in a relationship.
I remembered how much I love listening to sad music and pretending that I'm in a Kelly Clarkson music video. I remembered how good it feels to lay diagonally across the bed and hog the covers guilt-free. And falling asleep certainly is a lot easier now that I'm not wondering why they never texted me back or who they're with right now.
Being single has it's struggles, but there's no point in jumping from relationship to relationship without ever giving your heart a break. (Unless that's your style, then you do you.) But for me, it freaking hurts. It's impossible for me to get involved with somebody else when I'm still heartbroken from a past relationship.
In my alone time I have been more able to focus on me, and I've been able to realize some things about myself and what I want for my future. Now that I have those things figured out, a relationship would be a bonus! The cherry on top. And after all these months I can now say for certain that if a special someone does happen to come along, I will be ready.
