A breakup feels permanent the first week. By month three you’ll catch yourself laughing at something and be surprised.

In the first week there is no evidence it will ever be different, because you have never been on the other side of this one. Feelings do not arrive with timelines attached, so the mind supplies forever. What actually happens is uneven: mostly bad, then a surprising ordinary moment, then bad again, then more of the ordinary ones.

Run the basic things anyway, sleep, food, people, something to do on the bad evenings, and let the rest take its time. Notice the small normal moments when they show up instead of feeling guilty about them. If it stays very heavy for a long while, that is worth telling somebody about.