Lovesickness

Lovesickness can make you physically and mentally ill. While you're in its grip, you feel like you'll never be happy again.

Getting over a broken heart takes time, but you can help things along in several ways.

Here are some of the best ideas:

1) Realize that you will get over it. Remember when you were little and your best friend moved away, and you thought the world had ended? Eventually it became something you hardly ever thought about. A broken heart is the same way.

2) Abandon the idea that there's only one person in the world for you, and that he or she was it. There are hundreds if not thousands of people you can be happy with, but you'll never meet them if you stay home moping over your failed romance.

3) Don't go places you know he or she might be. Running into your old flame accidentally-on-purpose will only stir up old feelings and prolong your agony.

4) Focus on the things you disliked about your lost love. There's always something. Maybe its the way he always left the toilet seat up, or the annoying way she tossed her hair. No one is so perfect that there isn't something you would have liked to change.

5) If your friends tell you they doubted your relationship would last, listen to them and find out why. I once broke up with a guy and was miserable, until my friends came to me one by one and admitted they'd really hated him, but hadn't wanted to say anything while we were dating. Years later, I see what they saw and realize I dodged a bullet by not marrying him.

6) Stay busy. Go out with your friends, even if you don't feel like it. Accept every invitation you get, and join some new organizations if you need to. Don't rub salt in your wounds by playing your special song or mooning around thinking about your last date.

7) Don't look backward with rose-colored glasses. We have a tendency to remember the good times and forget the things that broke us up in the first place. If you could never count on him, admit it to yourself and don't dwell on how dreamy his eyes were.

8) Forget about "just being friends." If one of you still has feelings, "friends" is likely to turn into "friends with benefits." That's a recipe for disaster when you're trying to get over someone. Walk away and look forward, not backward.