Do the Split: How to Talk Yourself Through a Breakup

My latest for Industry, in which I extoll the virtues of getting down and dirty in your misery. The only way through something is to GO. THROUGH. IT. right? I don’t use emphatic sequential periods lightly, people.

People won’t even read an article like this until they admit defeat. The rest of ‘em, a sorry lot, are stuck in what online marketers charmingly call the “Get him back” niche. But when you’re ready, and you’ve let go enough to realize you’ve got to buck up, to be on your own side, to look more closely at what you were chasing, there are several non-screwed up and non-delusional ways to approach processing through a break-up.

…Any perceived let-down could actually be a great “f*** it” moment, and cold comfort is sometimes the only kind we’ve got.

When we end a relationship there is an odd pairing of disillusionment and release. It hurts, but the pain feels rich, real. You feel deeply and the tears run on until you’re red and shining like a baby. The appetite is suppressed and the challenge of doing everyday activities can be an existential catalyst: Why are we so alone? Why is life so long and yet death so scary?

Read more here.