One night after a tough breakup, a group of my closest friends and I had driven to our school basketball game. I included myself even though I wasn't feeling it. But I knew that if I stayed home, the feelings of loneliness and heartbreak would consume me, and I would be all alone to deal with it. Later on in the game, I ended up outside of the basketball gym with two of those friends of mine on a bench. We discussed life, school, relationships, and most importantly- heartbreak. I popped this question to one of my friends: "I'm so tired of hurting and grieving. It almost feels like I'm doing something wrong, even though it seems I've done everything I can to let go of him. What do I do?" She looked ever so genuinely into my teary eyes and said, "You just have to choose joy."

That very same night as we made our way back to town to grab a bite to eat together, I had a complete breakdown. I remember not being able to look at any part of town without reliving all of the memories I had with him. In that moment, it was more than my broken heart could bare, and I began to weep. In the midst of my crying, I found myself being held by one of my friends that had climbed her way into the backseat with me, while she told me how loved I was, how she knew how much this sucked.

Why am I telling you this, you may be asking?

It was this night that I had realized that I was a lot stronger than I thought I was. I was not unlovable. I was not alone. Most importantly, I realized that I had friends that saw enough strength in me to tell me what I needed to hear in my moments of despair, and that loved me enough to hold me until the tears finally stopped.

There's no getting around the fact that losing someone you love is absolutely heartbreaking. It comes with pain like no other. But thank God for giving us friends like no other to get you through this mess that you didn't deserve in the first place.

Thank God for all of those pictures you have of you and your friends to fill those empty picture frames, after you finally decide to get rid of every picture you have of you and him in your room.

Thank God for those friends that will pick you up from your house because they know you're lonely, and blare We Are Never Getting Back Together and Deuces while the windows are rolled down with you all night.

Thank God for those friends that know when to skip a certain song, because they know you used to listen to it with him.

Thank God for those friends who will come over at 11:30 at night to bake cookies, sit on the floor of the kitchen with you while you all eat, and make you laugh so hard that you forget that someone was ever dumb enough to leave the amazing person that you are.

And lastly, Thank God that we have friends that will love us when someone else choses not to. Friends that will remind us, even in the midst of pain, to choose joy because they whole heartedly believe that joy is what we deserve. Thank God for friends that will love you until the right one comes along, and loves you as much as they do.