You’ll know you’re healing after heartbreak when your laugh surprises you. And I don’t mean the polite, “I’m okay, really” kind of laugh.
I mean the real one, the one that slips out before you can stop it.
If you’ve ever had your heart broken, you know what I mean. There’s a point where everything feels heavy, your body, your mind, even your smile. You wake up and move through your days on muscle memory, pretending you’re fine because honestly, what else can you do?
But then something happens, a joke, a memory, something silly one of your kids says and suddenly… you laugh.
A real laugh. The kind you thought you lost somewhere between the tears and the letting go.
And for a moment, you stop. You almost look around, like, Wait… was that me?
It’s strange how something as simple as laughter can feel like a milestone. But it is. It truly is.
The First Laugh Doesn’t Come Easy
After my separation, laughter felt like a language I’d forgotten. Everything was serious. Heavy. Sharp.
I was holding myself together with coffee and quiet prayers.
And then one day, while eating with my kids, one of them made a face, that ridiculous, exaggerated, “Mom-please-don’t-make-me-eat-this” face and I laughed. Not the controlled, trying-to-be-okay laugh but real, snorting, unfiltered, definitely-not-cute laugh.
And in that moment, I realized something important: I was still in there, buried under the pain but not gone, just waiting, resting and healing.
It was the first time in a long time that joy didn’t feel like a stranger.
Healing Sneaks Up on You Quietly
Healing doesn’t arrive with a party. It doesn’t tap you on the shoulder and say, “Hey, just so you know, you’re better now.”
No. Healing is sneaky. It tiptoes back into your life through tiny moments like a peaceful morning, a quiet cup of coffee, or a laugh you weren’t expecting.
That laugh is a sign that your heart is softening, that the heaviness is lifting. And that you’re no longer drowning in the ache even if you’re still a little tender around the edges.
You don’t have to be fully healed to feel joy. Your heart knows how to hold both things, the wounds and the wonder, at the same time.
You Don’t Laugh Because Everything’s Perfect, You Laugh Because You’re Alive
Let’s be honest: nothing magically becomes perfect overnight. You’re still figuring things out. Some nights are still hard and some memories still sting.
But that laugh? That’s your heart saying, I’m trying. I’m learning. I’m coming back.
It’s not about forgetting the heartbreak. It’s about remembering who you were before it, the woman who used to laugh easily, who found joy in simple things and who didn’t apologize for being happy.
She’s still here. She just needed a little time.
The Moment You Laugh Again, You Start Living Again
There will come a day when your laughter isn’t rare anymore and tt won’t surprise you. It won’t feel foreign.
It’ll be yours again, natural, effortless, sincere.
And when that day comes, you’ll know you didn’t just survive heartbreak…
You grew from it. You softened in the right places and you toughened in others. You learned to love yourself differently, deeper, gentler, more honestly.
So if you’ve laughed recently even for a second, hold onto that moment. It’s not just a laugh, it’s proof :
- that your heart is healing.
- that joy is returning.
- that you’re still here, still trying, still beautifully alive.
You’re coming back to yourself, one laugh at a time.
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