I have friends who have ended up staying with their first serious boyfriend. They were lucky enough to find a great guy early in life and never had to experience a horrible end to a relationship.

Then there are those of us who have been through a rough break-up, one that takes a fair bit to get over. It's hard, really hard, and although I used to think I understood the pain my friends were going through when their relationships ended, it wasn't until it happened

to me that I truly got it.

I remember feeling all that raw and, what seemed like, endless pain, thinking to myself, "I hope none of my friends ever have to go through this''.

But given that divorce rates are on the rise, it is highly likely - and terribly unfortunate - that some of my friends will probably go through similarly tough break-ups.

I'm not going to bore you all with sad stories about me crying myself to sleep, but what I am going to do is let you in on a couple of things I wasn't aware of before I went through it.

Crying: Crying is important and one of those things that even when you think you've cried all you can, you still have more tears. It goes on longer than you would think and can surprise you by happening in inconvenient places.

Going out: Particularly hard when all your friends are in couples. Sometimes you can be fine and hold your head up high and get on with it, but at other times you just can't get yourself into the right head space to be around people. Friends, please be understanding about

this.

Grief takes time: This is the big one. If your friend has just had a rough break-up please, please, please don't insist she gets back out on to the dating scene until she's ready. Don't EVER tell her to "just get over it and move on''. If her partner had died in some awful accident

no-one would ever expect her to move on straight away and start seeing other people.