Once a breakup has happened, you should limit contact with that person. It isn’t unlike going through substance detoxification: There is a difficult withdrawal period, but that is the only way to move forward and heal.

In the short term, it might reinforce or flare up painful memories, but it also normalizes the grief you are feeling so that you know you're not alone.

It’s probably best not to suppress or hold back one’s emotions, especially immediately after a breakup. 

However, the emotions can be so intense that they may not be appropriate for public display, so take time out, go somewhere private, and sob it out. Scream it out. It’s normal.

Now is a fine time to do self-care rituals that, at other times, you might consider to be unnecessary splurges. 

Shop for clothes, accessories, or makeup. Get a new haircut. Nibble on some chocolate. Anything that boosts your sense of yourself as someone worthy of comfort and pride.

While rebounding can be risky, it is OK when one feels ready — on average, it takes people three to six months — to test the dating waters. 

This is probably the quickest way to restore one’s feeling of being a viable mate. The key is to take it slow and steady. 

Something about quiet words on the page describing what you are going through can be calming in a way little else is. It also helps to reboot the logic centers of your brain that your emotional state may have shut off or flooded.