Breakups suck, let's be real, whether you're the one being broken up with or you're the one breaking up with someone. Even when you think you're doing the right thing, there are so many people out there shaming you.

In my past relationships, except one but I'll get to that, I was the one on the end no one wanted to be on. I was the one who got broken up with. It filled me with so much pain and sadness that I thought I'd never do that to someone. It never made sense to me how someone who "cared" about me could put me through this.

Until a year ago. I was in a relationship that, to the average person, was perfect. We were totally cute. Constantly together and posting all the Instagram pics. Happy as could be. But were we? Was I?

Well, as you can assume, I wasn't. I felt like I was living a separate life from someone who was supposed to be my partner, someone I was supposed to be able to "do life" with. I felt like everything I was feeling, I shouldn't have been.

We were in different places in our lives. We were on different paths. To me, that didn't make sense to do together right now. I spent nights crying because I just couldn't believe I was going to have to break someone's heart.

I remember seeing him prior to the breakup and him asking, "Is everything alright?" I shamefully said yes, and then got in my car and cried because I had just lied to someone who deserved to hear the truth. But I gave the answer that should have been the truth; everything was supposed to be fine. We were supposed to be fine.

For the days and weeks following, I had people tell me they just couldn't believe how okay I was. I went out for my birthday the following week. I spent time with my friends and did things I wanted to do alone.

But there were days where I felt like the worst person like I made the biggest mistake. Maybe this wasn't what I wanted. I was faced with the reality of getting blocked on social media by someone who I had shared my life with for three and a half years. I was shit-talked by people who I had considered friends during our relationship. I was even publicly bashed for an article I wrote because it was about me being single.

But since then, I've spent most of the days since then completely happy with my decision. Over the past year, I've felt like a completely different person. I've been visibly happier to the people around me. I've been given the opportunity to do things that I couldn't picture not doing this year. I've gotten to spent time deciding what makes me happy and what I want.

I've grown so much as a person. But I know that without that relationship and breakup, I wouldn't have been able to.

It took one of the hardest decisions of my life to make me the happiest I've been in my life. It made me realize what all the people in the past may have or may not have felt when they had to make the same decision I did.

But the truth about breakups is that they're hard, but so is life, and you're going to come out stronger and happier because of it.