Hi all! You may know me as a prolific commenter on HarvardFML; this is my new and improved means of doling out relationship advice! Got a question you want to ask, or a situation you want thoughts and advice on? Email me at somedude.harvardfml@gmail.com, and watch this space for my answer! Today, though, I’m reprinting a post from HarvardFML and my reply to it.

Got dumped a few days before our anniversary (which is New Year’s Eve). I’m so depressed that I can’t come up with a witty catchphrase for this. FML

I’ve written advice for this sort of situation twice on HarvardFML in the past, but I think it’s time to codify it in a post here. This shall be known henceforth as Some Dude’s Guide to Being Dumped.

It’s gonna hurt for a while. Which will suck. But it will get better. In the meantime, this is what you can do:

Keep yourself occupied. Anything that forces you to focus on other things. Watch 10 seasons of The Simpsons back-to-back. Read the whole Harry Potter series. Watch the extended cuts of all three Lord of the Rings movies. Whatever you can do to keep busy.

You may want to tell your painful story to someone. Just telling someone can help you feel better. Make sure it’s someone who’s willing to listen sympathetically, and not someone who feels compelled to offer you criticism.

Nights will be rough. If all you can do is cry yourself to sleep, that’s perfectly okay! Try not to keep your family up, though; they’ll be more sympathetic during the day if you’re not interrupting their sleep. Use a sleep aid if you’re able to and think you need it.

Don’t self-medicate with alcohol. It doesn’t actually help you forget things you can’t help but think about. But it will erase everything else from your mind so that you’re singularly focused on your pain.

Blame your ex. No point in being angry at yourself – get angry at them! It helps to heal. Avoid contact with your ex or anything that reminds you of them as much as possible. Blocking them from FB so they don’t show up in your news feed and removing them from your gchat list are both good ideas. Do not try to get closure from your ex – trust me that no good will come of looking for it! You are currently wired so that any interaction you have with them can almost only make things worse.

And, remember that life goes on – it sucks, but it definitely will get better. You’ll have a new significant other, and your next relationship will be better than your last.