Why I Struggled to Recover from My Heartbreak in Japan?

Although I am happily married now, I’ve experienced some heartbreaks while living in Japan. However, I have struggled to recover from them compared to the ones that I experienced back home. I pondered the reason behind this and figured it out after long hours of looking at my blank WordPress document.

So, I’ll be sharing in this blog the thoughts that sprout out from my head during that WordPress soul-searching, LOL. Hopefully, this entry could help you. It’s not easy being heartbroken in a foreign country on your own.

Living on My Own

I did love living on my own and renting my apartment. It gave me independence and made me feel that I am FINALLY an adult.

However, after I broke up with my previous bf, going home to my apartment made me feel very secluded and empty. I had no one.

Because of that, I didn’t want to go to my apartment. At least when I was in the Philippines, my relatives were there. Even if my partner left, I still had my family to interact with, making it very easy to feel happy again.

Work Place

I used to work at an English Language School in Yamagata and Saitama. Before and after my class started, I was mostly on my own. I only met my co-workers when we did office work, team teaching, or whenever we had meetings. Hence, I felt very alone. There wasn’t anything to distract me. Mostly negative thoughts plagued my head, which made me very depressed.

When I was working in the Philippines, I was usually surrounded by co-workers who were funny and positive. Thus, when I experienced heartbreak it was easy to forget about it because the good vibes in my workplace were very infectious.

A Lonely Environment

Sadly, it is a known fact that Japan has a high suicide rate. Therefore, when you read in the news that someone just jumped in front of a train while you are depressed, it triggers your negative emotions.

It also doesn’t help that when I broke up with my previous bf, it was around autumn. Yamagata has one of the coldest winters in Japan, which was very challenging for me because the cold weather and rare sunlight made me even sadder.

Thus, when I had an opportunity to move to a less snowy place, I immediately moved.

Friends

The Philippines is known to have the friendliest people. It’s easy to make friends over there. In Japan, it takes a while for people to open up to you. Sometimes, even if you are friends, you could still sense that there’s a wall between you.

I remember when a Japanese colleague invited me for lunch, we talked about our lives and I talked about my heartbreak for the first time to that person. That colleague told me that I should stop talking about it. It shocked me because, in the Philippines, no one would do that to you. Filipinos might even ask you to go for a drink and give you a bit of advice.

After that experience, I stopped talking about my problems to some of my Japanese friends. It was quite difficult to bottle all my emotions inside though, so I began to talk to my mother more and my friends in the Philippines.

Thank goodness for the Internet!

Conclusion

Despite these factors, I still enjoyed living in Japan after my heartbreak. It took a long time, but I managed it. Because of this, I was able to explore different places in Japan and I met the love of my life.

So, if you just broke up with someone or you still haven’t recovered from it, it’ll be challenging to move on especially when you are alone here in Japan. But don’t give up. Try your best to find a project to distract you or move to a new place to have a fresh start.

Just keep it positive and tell yourself, “Everything happens for a reason.”