My whole world got ripped out from under me in December of last year. It's been five months, and I'm still working on picking up the pieces of myself. I know that I can sit here and say that I'll be okay now, but when everything first happened, I convinced myself that my life was over and that I would never be the same person that I used to be again.

Over the last few months, I've learned a thing or two about recovery. I've learned that your mom does not have to sleep in your bed every night for you to feel normal, and that smoking a pack of cigarettes in a day and drinking until you can't feel anything won't be the answer to your problems. I've learned that no, he doesn't really care about you, but he'll hold you while you cry so you give him what he wants right before he leaves.

I've learned a lot of things, and I'm thinking I'm going to keep learning until the day that I die, but I hope that this article can help someone who had their world shatter, and help them realize that this isn't the end of everything.

Here's a list of things that helped me pick myself back up, dust myself off, and keep going:

1. Understand that it takes time to get back to who you were.

You can't just snap out of anything in a day. Things take time and effort, and it might be a while until you can make yourself feel normal again, and honestly, there is a chance that you may never be who you used to be again - big things affect people, and make people change.

It might not be the end of the world for you, but it might be the end of who you used to be.

2. Crying is OK.

I remember laying in bed at 3 AM and choking back water to try to keep the tears from coming, but sometimes it's OK to cry. Sometimes it's OK to let everything feel like it's falling down around you because at the end of it, being able to catch your breath and sleep is one of the best feelings you will have.

3. Remove the bad cues from your life.

Certain things can make you remember what happened, and making them go away is important for your mental health - even a shirt that you wore the day you found something out or a certain perfume you used to wear. Just get rid of them.

4. Clean yourself off.

Scrub your social media. Delete anything that you don't absolutely love on there. Delete the boy from the ninth grade that messaged you and told you your legs were ugly. Scrub your contacts and delete anybody that you hate. Scrub the photos on your phone and clear the ones that don't flatter you, or make you happy, or remind you of what happened.

Delete and pretend they never existed, and never have to look at the things you do not want to again.

5. Clean yourself up.

They say that it takes 21 days to create a habit, so take it upon yourself to try and create a routine that you can follow through with. Having some sort of structure in your life when things happen that you can't control is one of the best feelings because no matter how hectic things get, you can still accomplish your routine and feel 100 times better.

6. Don't rely on other people to make you feel better.

Nobody can help you but yourself and relying on the people in your life to give you constant reassurance that you will be OK does not benefit you in the slightest; it only feels better in the moment. The minute that you get off the phone with them, the thoughts of "I'm fucked," "I hate myself," and "I'm a terrible person," can start circling back in your head and messing with your mind.

Never rely on someone else to pat your back and tell you that everything will be OK. You have to learn to tell yourself that you are going to be OK. You need to believe yourself, and as hard as it might be, eventually you'll realize that you're not as "fucked" as you think you are.

7. Just keep working on things.

Take it day by day and keep breathing; keep living and try to move past all the negativity in your life. There is no magic switch that is going to make you automatically feel better, but there are small steps that you can take to make it feel less like you're falling apart.

I wish that I could give you a magic pill that would delete all your problems, and make you OK again. If you find one, sign me up, but for now, coping mechanisms are probably your best bet.

So, I hope that a few of these are some things that you can take into consideration in the process of healing yourself, and I hope that you can take a deep breath and make yourself OK at least for a day.