I thought I was going to marry her. After we broke up, here’s how I coped.

Bennifer. Charlize Theron and Sean Penn. Kermit and Miss Piggy. (I’m not quite over that last one.)

Couples break up all the time. And while each split is different, for me, the first three months were the hardest. My girlfriend of three years and I broke up around Christmas, and I’m starting to feel like a normal human being again.

I thought I was headed toward marriage and children with this person, so adjusting to being single has at times been excruciatingly lonely and disorienting. We know all about the destructive ways of “dealing” with a breakup — drunk-dialing; sleeping with your ex or shamelessly trying to; eating bad food and washing it down with a bottle of whiskey. But here are some more productive things I’ve done to cope over the past few months.