86. Hope

A listener named shares how her family and friends gave her hope after an unexpected breakup. 

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

INTRO MUSIC

Today’s episode is for people with a broken heart, people who have had a broken heart, people who are in that space where life and your relationship didn’t quite work out the way you thought it would.

Today’s episode is from Hope. 

 My name is Hope and I am 24 years old. I will be 25 in September this year, and I’m a hopeless romantic. I always saw myself getting married young and I thought that’s the direction that my life was heading in. I was in a relationship for seven years. We started dating when I was 17 and he was 18.

He proposed to me in August of 2022, and then in April, 2023, he decided that he was no longer happy in our relationship and he left and that was that. And I thought that I would be a devastated, sobbing, inconsolable mess, and I was devastated, but I did not react emotionally how I thought I would or how anyone else thought I would? 

And I think mainly because I feel like I have always struggled in relationships, romantic and non-romantic relationships. And I get these feelings sometimes that I’m alone in this world and that I don’t have any friends that really care about me or that would pick me as their first choice.

And when my ex-fiance left, I was just surrounded by love from my family and my friends and people that I don’t even know really well, like my family’s coworkers and friends of friends and my brother’s friends. And in moments like this, when you feel, especially alone, it’s nice to know that you do have people in your circle that love and care about you.

My parents had me over for dinner every night for two weeks straight. My friends sent me cards and care baskets and little Venmos to go get myself a sweet treat if I wanted it. And I have one friend that calls me once or twice a week just to see how I’m doing. And those things mean so much to me and even though at this point it feels like things aren’t little actions like that, remind me that it is going to be okay.

OUTRO MUSIC

What luck it is to be named Hope, right? To be named Hope, and to find hope even in the face of a loss like this. And I know we tend to sort of downplay. Breakups. I know we tend to say, well, uh, at least you weren’t married. Oh, well, it was just a fiance, not a husband. 

If you’re thinking about a helpful thing to say to a person going through something hard, don’t say, just don’t say. At least don’t say, but how about that? Show up for ’em. Show up for ’em. Let ’em know that you care. Let them know that it counts. Let’s help each other remember that it’s going to be okay, that it, and it’s going to be okay, is different all the time.

It’s different for everyone. Thank you Hope for sharing yours. If you are listening and you have an okay thing to share, you can email it to us, I G T B O at feelings and dot co. You can call it in, (612) 568-4441. You can record a voice memo on your phone, attach it to an email and send it to us. It’s going to be okay, is a production of Feelings and Co.

CREDITS