Having a broken heart is one of the most painful experiences a person can go through, and unfortunately, the pain doesn’t end when the relationship does — breakups have side effects. The healing process is excruciating, but you will get through it. For now, steel yourself to go through these 8 things:
- Your heart literally hurts. Chest pain, hypertension, palpitations… it feels like your heart is actually broken. You’re caught off guard by how much physical pain emotions can cause, and you never want to feel this way again once you get through this.
- You can’t drag yourself out of bed… Being in bed is your new favorite activity, and nothing can motivate you to crawl out from under the covers. You cancel plans as much as you possibly can, and get your act together only when it’s completely necessary. You might burn through some of that vacation time you worked so hard to save up for or seriously piss off your friends, but you don’t care. You just want your bed.
- … But you can’t sleep, either. You’re so tired, but your heartbroken body won’t let you sleep. None of your old tricks to help you sleep work anymore. You lie awake for hours, exhausted, calculating how many hours of sleep you can get if you fall asleep right this very moment.
- You can’t eat or you can’t stop eating. You suddenly have a weird relationship with food, where you either can’t stop stress eating, or eating anything feels impossible. Dealing with heartache is tough enough without having to deal with a weight fluctuation as well, and your friends and family get slightly concerned about your health.
- Your sex life gets extreme. Extremely nuts or extremely nonexistent. Some people completely shut down in the sex department when their heart is broken, and others find solace in the comfort of whoever is free that night. You do whichever feels better to you, but having a normal dating life is definitely not an option when your heart is still shattered into pieces.
- You run to your favorite vice to numb the pain. You move into the gym, watch bad movies, constantly shop online until your credit card’s maxed out, or drink until you black out. They pain of having a broken heart can be too much at times, so you turn to your favorite vice to distract you, if only for a little while.
- You lose interest in the world. You don’t super care what’s going on in the world or in your friend’s lives, because you’re so overwhelmed by what’s going on with you right now. The aching can be consuming, to the point where you’re not interested in anything else. You know there’s more important things going on, but you can’t help being absorbed in your own heartache.
- You cyber stalk, even when you know it will upset you. You can’t help but check his IG and his snap chat, even though you know it will only make you feel worse. It’s almost like you’re compelled to check up on him, so you can’t resist the urge to stalk him online. Whether he is also beating himself up over the breakup or seems to be ambivalent about it, the result is always the same- you will end up upset. It’s a wound you can’t resist picking at right now, so you end up doing it anyway.
