love loss & loneliness

<p>This book is the culmination of my experience navigating the world of romantic relationships in my 20s.</p><p>I started writing this book in the winter of June 2017 at the start of what would be my biggest heartbreak. At the time I had no intention of writing a book. It all started as physical diary entries scribbling nonsensical words of despair with my black gel-ink pen onto tear-stained pages. Eventually as time went on I started a google doc aptly titled 'thoughts' for instant access as my thoughts began forming into (what I thought at the time) were profound words.</p><p>And so the words you'll read on these pages were written during my stages of grief and healing. I wrote them on a T1 Western Line train from Central to Blacktown. The driver's seat of a Toyota Camry parked on the side street on a cold rainy night. A secluded beach after a hike in nature. A solo tiny home getaway in the middle of the Australian bush. A Contiki tour bus in New Zealand. Inside a psychiatric ward after the cops were called for a welfare check. Midnight in my bed. 3am next to a sleeping ex.</p><p>Six years later the google doc was spilling with hundreds of thousands of words and I thought it would be a shame to let them sit idle in the cloud.</p><p>At the time writing these words was an expressive outlet for the pain I was feeling. To revisit my past throughout the curation of this book has been a cathartic experience. Sometimes I would linger on a particular passage in disbelief that I thought or felt a certain way. </p><p>I've broken up the book into five chapters which documents my grief and healing in chronological order.</p><p><em>the big heartache:</em> the desperation of losing someone who was my entire world and the downward spiral into depression that followed.</p><p><em>the long rebound:</em> the toxicity of being in an incompatible relationship out of fear of being alone while still mourning my past.</p><p><em>answer : love yourself:</em> the beginning of my journey towards self-discovery self-love and healing upon discovering 7 Korean boys who sing and dance.</p><p><em>all the wrong tinder boys:</em> navigating the world of online dating players and cryptocurrency.</p><p><em>time heals most wounds: </em>the realisation that painful emotions are a part of life and it's both a blessing and a curse to feel things so deeply... but that is essentially the beauty of being alive.</p><p>This book deals with some heavy stuff. It delves deep into moments where I was close to saying goodbye to the world for good. If you're dealing with some heavy stuff yourself I hope that by the end of the book you'll walk away feeling like you are capable of overcoming the tragedies in your life.</p>