Breakup advice is everywhere. “Love yourself.” “Give it time.” “Focus on your healing journey.” All true. All vague. All deeply unhelpful when you’re lying face-down on your couch at 11am on a Tuesday.
Never Liked It Anyway takes a different approach. It’s built on one belief: action is the antidote. Not grand, transformative action. Small, sometimes silly, occasionally absurd action. The kind that gets you out of your head and back into your life.
Here are eight of the best.
1. Create an Ex-Box
Room by room, drawer by drawer — collect every love souvenir, gift, letter and relic that reminds you of your ex and put it all in a shoebox. The hotel pen. The ticket stub. The photo from that weekend away. Box it up and get it out of the house. Bury it in the garden. Send it to storage. Anywhere that isn’t your eyeline.
Why it works: The things you keep around you are directly linked to your sense of self-worth. Your self-worth shouldn’t be dependent on someone who’s no longer in your life.
2. Host a Fail Festival
Invite your friends over, ask everyone to bring a bottle, and take turns celebrating your biggest failures. Yes, really.
Need inspiration? Decca Records turned down The Beatles. Twelve publishers rejected J.K. Rowling. Someone said no to buying Google for $1 million in 1999.
The more we laugh at our mistakes, the less power they have over us.
Why it works: Failure loses its grip when it gets dragged into the light and laughed at. Your breakup is just one blip in a long line of spectacular human mess-ups. You’re in excellent company.
3. Send Balloon Memos
Buy a pack of balloons. While deflated, write messages on them — dares, affirmations, jokes, utter nonsense. Then hand them out to friends or strangers, with instructions to inflate and read.
Why it works: Making someone else’s day is one of the fastest routes out of your own head. Kindness is contagious and it loops straight back to you.
4. Create an Alter Ego
For one whole day, dress and act as a completely different persona. Zany accessories, foreign accent, dramatic gestures — all wildly encouraged.
Channel your inner Ziggy Stardust, Sasha Fierce or Superman. When you dress the part, you act the part.
Why it works: Post-breakup, identity can feel wobbly. Stepping into a new persona — even playfully — reminds you how multidimensional you really are. There’s more to you than one relationship.
5. Do the 9-Minute Meditation (The Fun Kind)
Set a timer for three rounds of three minutes. First: sit in silence and let your thoughts wander. Second: write whatever’s in your head — no filter, no judgement. Third: doodle like you haven’t since third grade.
Why it works: You don’t need an app or a guru. Nine minutes of sitting, scribbling and doodling clears more mental clutter than you’d expect.
6. Host a Clutter Party
Invite your closest friends — and all their clutter. Everyone brings a dish AND a box of stuff they want to toss, sell or donate. As you eat, swap the stories behind your junk.
Why it works: Decluttering alone is depressing. Decluttering with friends and wine is weirdly therapeutic. You’ll also realise everyone is carrying around junk they don’t need — emotional and physical.
7. Raid the Fridge (Not Like That)
This isn’t a grief-ice-cream situation. This is a purge-raid. Chuck out everything past its expiry date, everything you never eat, everything that makes you feel sluggish. Restock with fresh, colourful, experimental ingredients. Cook something new and give it a ridiculous name.
Why it works: Your fridge is a microcosm of your life. Cleaning it out gives you a small, tangible sense of control when everything else feels chaotic. And cooking something new fires up parts of your brain that moping does not.
8. Discover Your Signature Colour
Visit the makeup counter. Try neon nail polish colours you’d normally avoid. Wander a gallery and take note of what draws you in. Then commit to one colour — your colour — and start weaving it into your everyday life. A scarf. A mug. A cushion.
Why it works: Colour influences mood, energy and action. Having a signature colour is a small but surprisingly powerful act of self-definition. You’re declaring: this is who I am now.
Breakups are brutal. But they’re also a genuinely rare opportunity to clear the slate, shake things up and step back into yourself — maybe a better, bolder version than the one who was in that relationship.
Action is where it starts. Even the small, silly kind.
Especially the small, silly kind.
