How to Heal a Broken Heart: Tips for Healing Heartbreak

People describe their feelings after the end of a relationship as a “broken heart” due to the heart’s association with love. On a physical level, you might feel pangs of pain, anxiety, sadness, and regret deep in your chest, too.

This sensation might arise in other destabilizing situations, like the death of a friend or family member. In other words, heartbreak arises whenever you lose someone near and dear to you. While healing a broken heart takes time, it’s possible given enough time.

Everyone experiences heartbreak in a unique way, but there are certain common feelings you might experience in times of loss. These are just a few symptoms to consider:

• Depression: Unrelenting sadness and even despair often set in after someone breaks your heart or you suffer a great loss. You can expect to cry a lot in the days, weeks, and even months after losing your partner. You might find it difficult to get out of bed or do the things you once found joy in for a while. Consider speaking to a licensed therapist to handle these feelings of grief.
• Irritability: Heartbreak can cause you to lash out toward others. As you deal with your internal pain, your sadness might sometimes transition into anger. This can bubble up and affect those around you. These outbursts might also lead you to feel guilty, further compounding the pain of your broken heart.
• Stress: Anxiety and stress are also common reactions to heartbreak. As you ruminate on what you could’ve done to salvage your past relationship, you might become wary about ever finding love again in the future. It’s possible your emotional pain and stress might even turn into physical sensations.

Time heals all wounds, but you can do quite a bit to speed up the heartbreak healing process. Keep these tips in mind as you strive to heal your broken heart:

• Avoid ruminating. While you should let yourself feel your pain rather than stuffing your feelings down, try to let these emotions pass through you rather than fixate on them. Heartbreak exists in the space between what was and what will be, so it’s essential you learn to let go in the meantime. Focusing on the past will slow down your process of healing.
• Give yourself time. Sometimes people feel the need to find a new partner very fast after a breakup, but this often proves to be unwise. While you’ll almost undoubtedly have successful and loving future relationships, taking a break from the dating world right after you and your ex part ways can be a healthy choice. You run the risk of jumping into something new too fast afterward, and you might end up breaking someone else’s heart along the way.
• Go “no contact.” To move forward, you can’t look back. Even in hard times, try to avoid reaching out to your ex post-breakup. Every time you start to talk again, you rip the wound open fresh and will have to start your healing process from scratch. While it might be difficult in the moment, focusing on your own needs and giving yourself space will help both of you grow to your ultimate potential.
• Keep moving. Consider taking up some form of exercise to give yourself something external to focus on in the wake of a breakup. A sedentary lifestyle will only compound your feelings of depression and stress. When you prioritize your physical wellness, a greater sense of emotional peace and stability often follows.
• Practice self-care. Mending a broken heart requires you to be kind to yourself. Listen to inspirational podcasts. Read about ways to bolster your mental health and wellness. Take up mindfulness meditation to learn how to let things go and find joy in impermanence. Eat well, exercise, and try to get enough sleep every night to heal as fast as possible.
• Remember your value. As painful as breakups can be, they force you to learn the value of self-love anew. When you’re in a romantic relationship, you might end up defining yourself almost exclusively in terms of your connection to the other person. This unhealthy outlook sometimes leads to breakups in the first place. Remind yourself of your value as an individual, take advantage of your newfound independence, and learn to love yourself.
• Take new chances. You’ll have a lot more free time on your hands when you’re experiencing your broken heart. Use this time to try new things, find new hobbies, meet new people, and make new friends. Build up a set of experiences to help yourself grow into the person you always dreamed you would be. Next time you hop on a dating app, do so knowing you learned how to live a single life to the fullest.
• Turn to your support system. Reach out to your support group of best friends, family members, and loved ones in the wake of a breakup. They can provide you with shoulders to cry on, all while reminding you of how loved you are. They can even join you on new adventures when you’re up for it again. Consider speaking to a qualified psychotherapist to process your feelings, too.

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