8 Creative Ways to Cope with a Break-up

Getting dumped or having to dump someone usually makes us feel like a big ol? pile of horse dung. Basically, you either have to be told that you?re in some way insufficient to satisfy the other person?s current needs, or vice versa.

And that sucks. It gets really messy, and it makes some people never want to initiate another relationship again. Ever.

Then there are those of us who will never stop believing, for better or worse, that we?re meant to meet someone, so we keep putting ourselves through the relationship gauntlet.

We participate repeatedly in the drawn-out rigmarole of investing countless hours getting to know someone, only to have our hearts and hopes crushed months or years down the line.

But it does eventually work out for some people, dammit!! So we?ll keep trying. We?ll fight on, and we?ll inevitably be hurt, but we?ll do what we must to heal and give it another go.

If you?re going through that perpetually shitty healing process right now, here are 10 things that might help you cope.

1. Write a letter.

Jot down all of your thoughts. Sob all over the paper if you have to. DO NOT SEND IT, unless you?ve waited at least a couple weeks for the helpless lunatic stage to pass, or you?ll probably only turn your ex off to you even more. Most post-break-up letters should be tucked away or burnt.

2. Buy a punching bag.

Seriously, frustration runs high after your heart gets smashed like an hourglass. You need something to beat up on, and I would advise not waiting until you snap at the supermarket and spike a honey ham into the guy in the meat department.

3. Get in touch with your sense of humor.

Humor is a great defense mechanism in times when pain is great. Even if you have to get a bit cynical, just start poking fun at shit in your head. It?s a bit of a cheap trick, but it makes you feel better about yourself.

4. Just keep smiling.

Simply smiling really does release endorphins into your brain and basically tricks you into feeling a bit better. Even if you have to force a clenched-teeth smile that looks like that of a well-known Batman villain, just do it. Maybe you?ll scare someone and can laugh at them.

5. Take a trip.

Get the f*#% out of that house with all of those memories and beds and pillows and sad music and Kleenex. Even if you just go for an hour-drive, a change of scenery definitely helps clear your head.

6. Blast sappy music and scream the lyrics.

We?ve all done it. Revert back to your melodramatic, pubescent All-American Rejects days and release some of that bottled angst.

7. Get some animal lovin?.

Cuddle the shit out of your damn dog. If you don?t have one, go hang out with a friend who does. Seriously, dog time = mood enhancer.

8. Treat yourself to a massage.

I recommend a hot stone massage. I had one of these for the first time a couple weeks ago after my recent break-up, and I felt like I?d died and gone to a stress-free paradise of relaxation.

Closing Thoughts

This list is short and by no means comprehensive. Hopefully just reading it gave you a slight bit of entertainment. More than anything, I want it to get you thinking about things you can do to feel better.

I know you feel like goat taint, but laying around, sulking, and analyzing everything that went wrong is a one-way ticket to depression land. So put some damn pants on, get up, and find a healthy way to release some of that emotion.