Page 68 of You've Got a Place Here, Too
A permanently and irrevocably broken heart.
HRT 009: Heartbreak Stages and Meaning
Course Overview
This open-ended course explores the stages of heartbreak, beginning with the initial understanding that being dead would be easier than the hell of fresh heartbreak because then at least you’d be feeling nothing instead of every awful thing. After that comes the grudging acceptance that you will survive the pain. Then the crying. Or maybe “sobbing” is a more accurate word. Heaving, breath-taking sobs. Chest-racking sobs. Stomach-clenching, body-curling sobs that last the length of a night and day and another night after that.
Then, of course, after those acute initial shocks, there are the lingering maladies.
Like the way your senses are diminished as if you’re imprisoned, half awake, and watching your life from behind a pane of smudged glass.
Like the way time refuses to be consistent. Each passing day stretching longer and thinner than the previous one, a body splayed on a rack and a winch slowly turning.
Like the way every innocuous anything triggers a cascade of memories. A gust of wind that flutters through leaves reminds you of the way his thumb skimmed the small hairs at the nape of your neck and made you shiver. Or the way a musty smell in the library reminds you of your need to do laundry, reminds you of a late-night run to the laundromat and the small intimacy of his hands holding your clothes. Or the way the baristamispronouncing your name reminds you of a Sunday morning in his dorm room and you explaining Patois to him and him attempting to copy your words but his vowels are too round and his accent too American and you made endless fun of him before he pulled you back into bed and mispronounced words against the pulse at your throat and the shell of your ear and, finally, against the swell of your lips.
WELL 001: Stress Level Self-Assessment
Course Overview
This hour-long seminar is an important first step in the administration’s initiative to monitor and improve student wellness. As such, all students are required to take and submit the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory. An example of a completed assessment is in appendix I on the following page.
Course Outcomes
Armed with the results of the self-assessment, students will be encouraged to take any necessary steps to protect their mental health. Please note that students who score 120 points or more are advised to consider counseling as soon as possible.
Appendix I: Supplemental Material for WELL001: Stress Level Self-Assessment
Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory
Student Name: Danica Henderson
Life Event
Score
Marital Separation from Mate*
