I’ve spent plenty of time considering the variances of dating rituals and what love looks like in other cultures… but not so much in terms of the opposite of love… heartbreak. 

For a kiwi girl, it entails bringing together our closest friends of the same sex and talking about everything the was right and wrong with the relationship. It also involves ice cream and a whole pile of damp tissues.

There’s the awkward exchange of things that had found a new home in the significant others home… but beyond that, it’s only the heart that struggles to understand life from its new yet slightly damaged perspective.

I wonder if other cultures find it so easy to say goodbye to the one they used to love. Whether the process of heartbreak echoes the same tone. Or whether they have greater pressure to follow through on their commitment. 

I wonder…