How To Embrace The Single Life After Your Long-Term Relationship Ended
There's no nice way to say this: Breakups suck.
If you were in a long-term relationship, then they can especially suck, and you will likely feel the effects not just romantically, but in multiple aspects of your life.
It can be intimidating to find yourself single in a world where you only know yourself to be in a relationship, and maybe you feel out of sorts, a little lost or back to square one.
First thing's first, don't panic. You're going to be JUST FINE.
Next, follow these inspiring tips and get down with your bad self.
Get jacked.
As much as happiness is not about how you look, there is something validating to Khloé Kardashian's revenge body strategy.
Though we hate to admit it, exercise is a great way to relieve stress, gain energy and boost confidence. Plus, it's a awesome trick to reinvest in YOU now that you don't have your ex taking up mental space.
Take a trip.
Go somewhere you've never been and somewhere your ex would never go.
By traveling, you're able to build new, happy memories that have YOU at the center of attention, and have no way of evoking nostalgia or hashing up old memories of your ex.
Get a haircut.
This might sound cliché or trivial, but it's my number one go-to move for big life changes and always makes me feel like I'm ready for the next step.
Shaking up your look can subconsciously shake up your attitude and create more space between the "you" that was in a relationship and the "you" you are now.
Shaking up your look can create more space between the "you" in a relationship and the "you" now.
Expand your social circle.
Beat feelings of loneliness by surrounding yourself with new people. Extra points if they've never met your old boyfriend!
By forging new relationships as your own person and NOT as "so-and-so's boyfriend or girlfriend," you'll build a new circle of allies and quickly be able to add more life experience between your past and your present.
Educate yourself on dating apps.
Hate to say it, but can't hurt to take the ol' dating apps for a spin. Especially if you haven't been on them in a while (or ever!).
Inevitably, your single friends will talk about what's going on online, and by engaging in the conversation, you are moving forward with the times instead of hanging on to old expectations and habits.
Change up your living space.
Spend some time on Pinterest and find some inspiration to make changes. Changes can be small, like painting an accent wall or trying a new headboard.
Adjusting your living space will simultaneously give you new energy and summon a sense of feeling grounded and rooted when your world might otherwise be spinning.
Do something a little crazy.
Whatever that means for you.
Maybe it's wearing hats if you aren't really a hat person. Maybe it means sky-diving.
Kicking up adrenaline will make you feel alive, fresh and present in a time when maybe you prefer to just curl up in bed and dwell on the past.
The number one thing to do is be gentle on yourself and have some patience. While it certainly is a big, sometimes scary pond out there, you are one sparkly fish. (What, that's not the best compliment you've ever heard?)
