I recently had a major change take place in my life. I’m not going to go into detail about it, but it involves a long-term relationship and a broken heart. This life altering experience has literally taken my world, shuffled it like a deck of cards, and threw them in my face. If you’ve experienced anything like this you will know just how it feels.
I don’t cope with things like this very well. If you know me, you really don’t think of me as an emotional person but as a gregarious, loud, larger-than-life, hard-ass, but I’ve realized that I’m far from it. I’m broken, beaten and worn down. My life has changed and I’m still grappling with the “for the better” or “for the worse” that comes after that sentence.
When this change happened, I immediately went into psychotherapy to help me cope. One of the things my therapist said I need to do is create a “new normal.” This new normal involves seeking out new friends to hang with, breaking from my routine, and reinventing myself socially.
It’s not easy.
I never thought at this point in my life I would be “out there” looking for someone else to spend time with on a personal level, looking for groups of friends to go for dinner or drinks and the part that hurts the most – spending less and less time with the person who I spent the last 16 years of my life with.
I guess when it’s all over I can slap a “new & improved” sticker on myself and hope for the best. In the mean time, I’m off to make new friends and thank those who have been there with a shoulder to cry on, an ear that will listen and a pitcher of Sangria.