Back in my day, we made each other mix CDs. My best friend Jess made me one when we went off to college, and I made a stack of unsent ones for the girl I was in love with (and didn’t realize that that’s the feeling I was having! Ahh, adolescence.)
But these days, I find myself turning to books, collecting books to read my way out of a feeling, or into a mood, or through a situation. I play the same song on loop, over and over and over again. I listen to a podcast on my commute to work to feel a little less alone in the world, that my feelings are valid and other people are feeling them too.
This season can be hard for a lot of reasons, but especially if you’re getting over a broken heart. At family gatherings where people are coupled up, questions about your singlehood can be salt in the proverbial wound. And when you’re alone at home, or on the street, or shopping for holiday gifts, the shorter, drearier days lending themselves to swells of melancholy. Tis the season…for wallowing. For feeling raw and vulnerable and sensitive. And tired. Heartbreak and loneliness are exhausting, aren’t they?
I pulled together a mixtape for you this month with books and music and a podcast I think you’ll like. I hope you’ll find solace in them. They’re often quieter, gentler, and maybe a little prone to wallowing and melancholy. But sometimes you need to sink down into the feelings like a warm bath, acknowledging and accepting them, before you are able to move on.
This is for you, my broken-hearted friend.