Thursday 13-02-2025 - 12:21

Last March, I went through a breakup. In true Bridget Jones style, I turned to tubs of ice cream, sad song playlists (shout out to Taylor Swift for releasing a new album a month after my breakup; it really helped), and lots and lots of crying. I genuinely thought my life had ended.  

 

Obviously, it didn’t, and I was being incredibly melodramatic about the whole ordeal, but at the time, trying to complete my Master’s degree and hold down my job while going through this, it seemed like a near impossible task to even get out of bed most days. However, while I was slowly becoming at one with my bedsheets, I found love in the most unexpected of places. My friends.   

 

With people from school, work, and university, I am very lucky to have a wide and diverse friend pool. So, when I told them about my breakup, not only did they let me vent and cry to them, but they helped me get back up on my feet and have stayed with me since, carrying (and sometimes dragging) me through everything!   

 

10 months on from my breakup, I finally found myself ready to get back out there, but I was super scared! Not only had my mental health taken a particularly bad turn, but my endometriosis was starting to get more painful, which left me feeling very vulnerable, and I started wondering if any potential partners would want to go through this with me. 

I had this particular conversation with one of my closest friends, and with tears in my eyes, I found myself saying how I felt totally unloveable and that no one would ever want a relationship with me because of how flawed I felt I was, until they turned around and said, "Well, I love you," and the penny dropped. 

 

Deep down, most of us crave love with that special someone, romantic love, special love, but I think we go out with the intention of seeking out this love that we forget it can exist in many shapes and forms. I know I am guilty of this. While I was busy throwing my little pity party, I completely neglected the fact that love is everywhere (cheeky Love Actually reference thrown in for good measure), and in order to seek out the love that I wanted, I needed to bask in the love I was already receiving and in turn, give it back.  

This Galantines, I am spending it at my desk and intermittently attending a million meetings across the university, however, I am going to spend the day silently appreciating the girls in my life who picked me up when I fell down, and who have stuck with me ever since.