"The best way out is always through." -Robert Frost

Welcome to Heartbreak Hotel. It's a place where you will be staying while you go through the process of healing your broken heart. Even though you may believe your stay might last forever, I can assure you, that you, like every other person who comes here, eventually walks out of here a new person.

We've all stayed at the hotel at one time or another in our lives and we have all survived. Is it easy? No. Is it survivable? Absolutely! And, it is something you WILL get beyond. Once you leave this place not only will you be healed, but you will be a wiser and stronger person.

Now here's the deal. While here, you will have some work to do. Although time will help in healing your broken heart, it will be your willingness to heal, your attitude towards healing and your belief in a new life after this misfortune that will all be integral parts of getting out of here faster.

At first you will be able to cry all you want, you may even want the Hotel to throw a pity party for you. But, once the initial induction has passed it will be time to start the process of letting go of the past and begin the journey of moving onto a new future.

I know you don't even want to think about a new future. You want things the way they were. But, as you are painfully aware from what you are experiencing right now, things don't always work out the way we want them to.

It may sound scary, it may even sound impossible, but it's only in going through it that you realize the truth of the fact that your stay here will not last forever.

I've seen several people enter into this place believing that they would never, ever get over their heartache. They believe with every fiber in their being that they are the only one who won't make it.

The pain is so intense and so real they can't imagine not having it for their lifetime. They may even believe they are the only ones who have had it this bad. But you'll come to learn that the symptoms, feelings, reactions, and overwhelming emotions are normal and universal.

We can all relate to how you feel from the minute the heartache strikes, all the way through the process of beginning to come out of the darkness, to walking out of these feelings and through the proverbial "new door" that will open for you.

When I first met Lisa, she had been depressed for a year. Her husband had not only left her but he did so while she was in the hospital recovering from major surgery. To make matters worse, he took their nine year old daughter along with him on his dates with the new girlfriend.

Needless to say Lisa was heartbroken. She was left without any money, and every day was occupied with feelings of resentment, bitterness and wondering if he would ever come back. Crying was the way she began and ended each day. Her days passed slowly, her thoughts were obsessive and she didn't believe she had a future. She believed she would stay in the hotel forever.

If you could only see her now! She went through what you may believe you can't. After doing the work that allowed her to heal, after letting go of what she thought she couldn't and after opening her eyes to the truth about life, she is now happy, hopeful and living a life that is filled with gratitude, fun and she has totally let go of the emotional baggage that was weighing her down.

Her stay in the Hotel was longer because she had no direction. She didn't have the tools or the know-how to shorten her stay. She was wandering through the halls of depression to not only find out she was on the wrong floor, but the front doors to the hotel were wide open waiting for her to CHOOSE to walk through them.

And walk through them she did. Just like you will once you have the vision of yourself moving on with your life and living again. Your stay in the hotel will help you in healing your broken heart, and give you the ability to make healthy decisions.

Your hotel stay will give you the knowledge that you need not stay stuck in a self-imposed prison and the belief that there really is life after whatever their name is.

So don't be hard on yourself, allow yourself the time to grieve, discover the strength that is inherent to your spirit and you too will be leaving Heartbreak Hotel sooner than you think!

Susan Russo
©2010

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