We all have felt that familiar sinking in our stomachs. It seems like nothing will ever be the same, like you can’t go back to how it used to be. You feel yourself sinking into despair and feeling such loneliness, as though nobody will understand. However, if you want to pull yourself out of it quickly – not necessarily forget it, but rather, just have it hurt less – try some of these options.

Talk about it. Your parents may not always understand, but your siblings and your friends sure will. Find somebody your age to talk to about your misery, because they’ll be able to help. They’ve probably even been through the same thing, or something similar.
   
Walk away from the situation for a little while. While it seems like there is no other option than to stay in bed and cry, try to resist that urge. Occupy your mind by watching some mindless show on Netflix, or listening to Spotify, or even doing your homework, if that helps. Find something to keep your mind off things until you feel okay enough to come back to it later.

Get off social media. Sometimes, the worst thing you can do is dig yourself into a deeper hole and scroll through all of social media. It may even seem like your feeds and timelines are mocking you with all of those gifs of cute animals and tweets from other, happier people who don’t feel the way you’re feeling right now. Sometimes, social media can be a really tempting thing to use when you’re feeling this despondent – try to avoid it.

And by the end of our cycle of grief, we are full of resolve, and can get up after a few minutes of our depression to say: “I will be better. Next time, when I’m stalking my new significant other’s ex on Instagram, I won’t accidentally like their selfie from 2011.”

Feel better? So do I.