Bouncing Back...

I have been through a lot of breakups and heartbreak in my short life so far…I do not pretend to know everything (or anything) about dating, love and heartbreak – but I’ve been through enough that I feel there are some solid go-to moves that can help anyone deal with the pain of losing someone you love.

The first thing I normally do post breakup (after the crying, or at least between the spurts) is change my look. After you have been dating someone for a long time, you associate yourself with that person. When they are no longer at you side, you don’t feel like yourself. One of the best ways to overcome this is to head to your salon and let the stylist create a new you – because you will have never known this version of you with someone by your side. The more drastic the change, the more removed it helps you feel from the other person that you were. Believe me, and I know this may sound simple, but in the healing process this is a GREAT first step.

The second thing I normally do – is change my routine. Now this can take many different shapes and forms but changing your daily routine helps to remove the space in that routine that your ex filled. In the immediacy following a breakup, going on a vacation can really help. This shakes up your life, it’s exciting, and it gets your mind on other things.  When my first significant relationship ended, I moved halfway across the world for 6 months – this might be a bit drastic for some – but it worked! In my last relationship, less drastically, I went on a trip with my girls to Vegas. It was exactly what the doctor ordered, and when I came home I found myself a new apartment and moved out. Uprooting your life and changing your routine, like changing your hair, helps to remove the feeling that someone is missing because you will have never known this new life with a partner.

The third thing I do – and some people agree while others do not – is date. This one doesn’t work for everyone, and it can backfire depending on the caliber of people you start dating, but it can also open your eyes to see that there really is so much opportunity out there. There are so many other people in the world that you have yet to meet, so why let yourself get down on losing one that wasn’t right for you to begin with. Dating is fun, scary, exhilarating, and nerve-wracking but most importantly post breakup – it is distracting! Instead of pining over your ex while you watch the notebook, dating will make you put on a pair of pumps and go out for a nice dinner with a new guy – the possibilities are endless! The odds that you will meet ‘the one’ are slim, but if you don’t date then you certainly won’t meet him. There is a lot of garbage to rummage through before you find the one worth keeping but the only way to get there is to keep rummaging.

I was pierced - by his good looks

Challenge Number Two - February

The most overwhelming response to my resolution came from the challenge for me to smush Vinny from the JS and so, on a cold snowy day in February the Daunt sisters put on their best and headed out for a night on the town at Dragonfly with this mission in mind. Lo and behold, so did EVERY other Guidette in the greater Niagara area. Upon arrival at Dragonfly, the guest list line was so long that it wasn’t even moving. There was a stampede of girls so excited to see him that they knocked down the barricades and the heat lamps and cops were there for crowd control. Like always Fiona and I worked our magic, met a group of the coolest girls alive and got in with them.

Once we were in the club it was a mad search for him but obviously since he was “hosting” the night he was not out amongst the crowd as it appears they are when you watch the show.  When he finally came out on stage, it was like Bieber mania – I have never seen a reaction like that, not even on the floor at the JT concert. I tried, in the most futile of attempts, to get anywhere near him and it simply was not happening. Although my dominating stature of 5’1” would make me difficult to miss he didn’t spot me and so all I could do was scream, wave my hands in the air, jump up and down and make a total fool of myself. And when I got that out of my system, I took some pretty amazing photos.

And let me just say – he is INCREDIBLY good looking in person.

And so although I did see Vinny, I did not technically accomplish this challenge of getting a kiss. So while it was fun to experience (and I won’t say there won’t be another attempt at some point in the year ahead) I did have to do something else or February wouldn’t count.

So February’s official resolution was me going to get my ears pierced. Because yes, I am 25 years old and didn’t have pierced ears. My sister and I headed out to the mall on a quiet Sunday morning to get some new makeup and do a little shopping – unbeknownst to me that she would con me into sitting up on that stool and letting a girl no older than my niece stick needles into my body.

Embarrassingly enough, the two month old baby in line behind me took it better than I did. I was so nervous I was sweating through my clothes and I couldn’t talk – please see video evidence below for footage. If you pay close enough attention, you can hear the rudest woman I’ve ever encountered just ripping on the poor girl working – Fiona and I loudly talked about her obesity problem to make her feel as bad as she made the poor teenager. When I played this back to my niece, she started screaming and crying so at least she agrees with me that it was a traumatizing experience for me! However, I am now happily rocking my new bling and I can’t wait to have a whole new way to accessorize outfits J

In addition to the above two challenges, I am having so much fun pushing myself outside my comfort zone and trying new things that in February I also did a zillion other things for the first time – such as going off a jump on my snowboard, eating French onion soup, ordering fish at a restaurant, and the list goes on…and in true hipster fashion as I continue my transformation I will soon be adding glasses to my new look (since I’m sadly going blind from sitting in front of a computer all day) and I’m starting a new part time job working events that promote local bands in the city, something I’m really pumped about!