1. Give Yourself Time to Grieve

First and foremost, when you’re dealing with a long distance breakup, give yourself private time to cry, yell and just grieve. You’re going through a loss and it’s a huge change to your life! Don’t try to bottle all of your feelings up or place unrealistic expectations on yourself to get over the whole ordeal within a certain amount of time, it’s unhealthy. It takes time to heal and everyone reacts differently to breakups.

2. Keep It Private

When you’re going through a breakup, as much as you want to cry to other people, try not to! Of course you should vent to your close friends and tell them what happened. But what I’m talking about is going out and bursting into tears to random people. I know it sounds harsh, but having to explain yourself to strangers can be awkward and meeting new people is extremely difficult if you’re crying. Why not lay low for awhile and give yourself time before you get back out in the social scene?

3. No New Friends

Right after breaking up is not the best time to start being friends with your ex. The wounds are still fresh and it’ll be really hard for you to try to be friends with someone you very well still have feelings for. Staying in touch with your ex immediately after the breakup can make the healing process that much more difficult, so if you want to stay friends with your ex, give it time and revisit the situation at a later date.

4. Stay Busy

While you’re going through a breakup, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to keep busy. Clean out your room, put in some extra time at work or start a project you’ve been wanting to do. If you spend too much time doing nothing, you can drive yourself nuts obsessing about things or looking at old emails and photos, which makes the healing process that much longer and more difficult.

5. Write It down

If you don’t like to talk about your feelings to others, writing them down can be really helpful. Start a journal to jot down how you’re feeling and use it to help yourself move on. That means no writing about what you miss or love about the other person or how much you want to get back together with them. Think about what you learned from the relationship, or perhaps what you’ve learned about yourself and your needs and wants.

6. Get Offline

Another helpful tip to keep in mind after a breakup is to stay off the internet. If you were in a long distance relationship, chances are you two spent a lot of time chatting online or emailing one another. Don’t give yourself the option of being able to check up on your ex through Facebook or read old messages. Instead, use your time to rediscover your old passions or learn something new!

7. Have Fun

Once you’re ready, get out there and have fun! Catch up with your friends, go on a road trip or take a vacation somewhere you’ve always wanted to go. You won’t be able to have fun or move on if you’re always at home hiding! There’s a big world out there that’s waiting to be explored! Get out there and have some fun!

I know things are really rough right now but it will get better with time. I know breaking up with someone is really hard, but trying to stay positive, keeping busy and having a shoulder to lean can make the situation much less overwhelming and stressful. Have you ever gone through a long distance breakup?