How to Mend broken hearts

A broken heart is an unfortunate part of life. Unless you are married to your high school sweetheart, we have all experienced it! Here are some easy steps to moving on and finding happiness again.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 

   Go out with friends. Silly, but it works. Do not go out thinking you are going to find prince/princess charming that night. You'll only come home disappointed if you do. Go out and have fun! Join a book club, go bowling, go mini-golfing. Life never revolved around your ex, so staying inside and being in a rut won't help you. Remind yourself that you can be happy without them.

   Try to stay away from alcohol. A lot of times, if you drink you'll conjure more feelings of loneliness and hurt.

2. List the things about you that make you GREAT. Writing down adjectives such as helpful, charitable, easy-going is okay but try putting down concrete examples. Such as "Today I saw somebody drop their wallet and I chased them down to hand it back. I'm not the type of person to look & see how much money they have." That is much better than "helpful" and it will cheer you up when you are feeling down. Carry the list with you and remind yourself that you are a great person to be around, that you have many good qualities to you. We tend to find ourselves focusing on the negative and wondering why they left us, when we should be focusing on how wonderful we truly are.

3. 

   Exercise. Great way to get in shape and feel better about your appearance, but also a tremendous release of endorphins. If you didn't know, endorphins are hormone-like substances that the brain produces, acting almost like painkillers. You are in emotional pain and endorphins will give you a sense of euphoria. All it takes is moderate exercise. An exercise newbie will actually feel a more powerful effect from the endorphin release, so this is a great time to get that gym membership!

4. 

   Don't stay up late! Feeling groggy will add to your feeling of loneliness. Get a good night's rest and be refreshed in the morning. Otherwise, you'll continually feel bad and wonder why you can't get over your ex, when all you needed was some sleep.

Resources

• Broken heart