I will jump in here - for many years I doubted if I would ever recover and be happy, truly happy. And I am but in a different way from how I used to feel.
The only way I can describe it, for me, is that when you are little your idea of a perfect day is often a particular thing - different for all of us, but not something that we would necessarily want to do now! And our tastes change too as we get older. I no longer want to be a horse, which was my greatest ambition when I was 7!
Well finding new happiness is like that. I have truly learned that happiness really is the gift we give ourselves, but we can't force it. We can only plant the seed and nurture it. patience and time, and you will get there, but it won't, in all probability be what you think.
For some of us it is a new relationship, but with a very different person than our xh, others remain alone, but enjoy the positives of the single life (and there are many!)
We cherish our friends, develop good judgements about people, and take up new activites. Our life fills up and the hurt heals, The prospect of the rest of my life alone no longer worries me. I cannot stress enough the importance of time in all of this.
