I lost “everything” – found myself via /r/gratitude

These last 6 months have been truly wild, filled with many ups and downs. My longest relationship has ended, and I’m being left for someone else. I had no vision of my life with this person not the center of it, I have grieved for months. Lost my car and a job somewhere in the meantime, among many other plights. I just recently started school as a nontraditional college student (never finished my first degree) and I feel like I’m reborn again. There’s so many things I have skipped out on to preserve a vision of a life I thought I should be living – everything changed, and I was left with nothing. I was so paralyzed by that fear initially but starting over has been such a beautiful thing. I get to build the life that I want, from the ground up, and touch it all as it comes together. It’s so beautiful and I cry every day (in sad ways sometimes, but mostly good). I feel so grateful for this freedom life has given me, and I want to commit to dating myself for the rest of my life. Nurturing my own wants, needs, desires and goals. I am so excited for the future and everything to come, and I just want everyone to know it does get better. Even when you feel like shit, it gets so much better.