Whether it was a relationship that lasted two weeks, two years, or two decades, breakups are grueling. Heartbreak hurts. Breakups can impact us mentally, emotionally, and even physically depending on the severity. Do not write your emotions off and instead, sit with them.
Breakups are challenging both emotionally and mentally, but practicing gratitude can help you move forward.
Gratitude in a Breakup
Here are a few prompts for focusing on gratitude during a breakup:
- What did this person teach me about myself?
- What is something in my life that is consistent that I am grateful for?
- How did I grow because I met this person?
- How am I grateful for experiencing love?
- Why am I grateful for this person, even though they were not the right person for me?
If you do not feel gratitude for the loss of a relationship, it is so important to understand that this is completely normal. There may be feelings of anger, hurt, sadness, mourning, or numbness as you navigate your breakup.
“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love, and to be greater than our suffering.” — Ben Okri
You do not need to always feel grateful for every circumstance in your life. Some things are simply just tough. It is not uncommon to feel negative emotions instead of gratitude, especially in the beginning. Instead of trying to find gratitude in every circumstance, you can use gratitude to heal and use it as a tool in your journey post-relationship to become a stronger version of yourself.
Gratitude as a Healing Tool
Gratitude is ultimately a tool that can be an effective way to heal and move forward after a relationship comes to a close.
It can also help you reframe your thoughts as you navigate your breakup. You can use gratitude as a way to anchor yourself in a more positive mindset. After you heal from a loss, you can see the relationship in a different light and it is possible to find gratitude what someone taught you, how you grew, or the memories you created.
All relationships - platonic, familial, romantic - are a gift. We can find gratitude for every person that we encounter. This is because they provided a benefit to us in some way. We can celebrate happy memories, lessons they taught us, new things they exposed us to, or simply celebrate our ability to connect with someone on a deep level. Gratitude provides us with a lens to see the good in not only ourselves through human connection but helps us see all the good in others. We encourage you to explore the gratitude symbol to remind yourself of this.
In case you want to save these prompts on your phone, you can save this picture to use these for later.
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