1. This too shall pass. Even though you feel like the world as you know it has ended, it's not the case. You're gonna get through this. Queue up The Sweetest Thing and eat some ice cream. Let yourself cry it out for a few. Then do something empowering — even if it's working out or buying yourself a present from Zara.
2. YOU ARE A QUEEN. Never forget it.
3. Never second-guess your self-worth. Don't let some dude who couldn't value you diminish what or how you think about yourself, because it's super hard to bounce back from low self-esteem. Sure, you might have had a moment in the relationship when you acted a bit cray and were called out for it, but if you constantly felt crazy in your past relationship, it was not all in your head. Be glad you dodged that bullet.
4. Focus on you and the future. Don't theorize about what his life is like right now based on the bottle girls you saw him chilling standing with on Instagram. Because, the truth is, he's doing the same shit he was doing before, which wasn't that interesting anyway. It's just that you're not in the picture anymore and think you're missing out — but you're not.
5. Move. On. As impossible as it might seem to do, don't waste time trying to figure out what went wrong or what you did or didn't do right, or how you could have fixed it. The truth is, you weren't the right fit. Not everyone will be right for you and you won't be right for everyone, but that doesn't mean you're not right for someone. Keep it movin'.
6. There will be another person who sweeps you off your feet. He or she might not be who you expect, and you might not meet them the way you thought you would, but it will happen when you least expect it and it will be everything you've ever wanted and more. And, sigh, you will be drunk in love again, just like Bey and Jay.
7. Use your breakup as a learning experience. Everyone you date will teach you an important lesson about yourself and who you want to be with. So, even if the relationship didn't last, do your best to learn and grow from it.
8. You don't want to be with someone who doesn't want to be with you anyway. If he or she wasn't moving mountains to hang with you when you were dating, do you really think things would have changed when you were married? It's best that bae is gone.
9. Drunk dialing him isn't going to get you anywhere and it definitely won't get you back together. It might, however, get you a booty call that results in zero things aside from you crying on your bedroom floor. So do not, I repeat, do not drunk dial him. You're better than that. Keep your head up and your integrity intact by blocking his number or giving your phone to your best friend when you go out.
10. If your relationship had more struggles than times that made you smile, there isn't any point in fighting for something you didn't spend any time enjoying anyway. That's it.
11. Everything really does happen for a reason. Yes, this is super cliché and you might be rolling your eyes over this point, but it's also the truth.
12. When you're looking back at your past relationship and feeling sad about all the "good" times you shared, try to remember the way you felt during all the bad times. This will help you get over your ex faster. Promise.
13. It's called a breakup because it's broken. So don't try to figure out what you can do to mend it. If you're meant to be with each other, he or she will come back into your life in a huge way and make it known that they want things to be different. That said, don't be hopeful that this will happen, because if it doesn't, the last thing you want to be is devastated — again.
14. Someone will treat you exactly how you deserve to be treated. And when you meet that person, you'll ask yourself, What the hell was I thinking with the last guy???!
And finally, I leave you with a lasting affirmation to live by post-breakup:
Follow Carly on Twitter and Instagram.
Carly Cardellino was the beauty director at Cosmopolitan. If you follow her Instagram, then you know she'll try just about any beauty trend or treatment once (the pics of her purple hair are on IG to prove it). But her favorite part about being in beauty is finding the most effective products, and then sharing that intel with others—because who wants to spend money on stuff that doesn't work? No one, that's who. Her most recent discovery: De La Cruz Sulfur Ointment, which will change your blemish-clearing game! Hopefully through the beauty stories she writes—and the experiences she shares—you can see exactly why she's in this business.
