Breakups can be hard. Or they can be secretly awesome! Here’s why:

1. Everyone reminds you how beautiful, smart, funny, and just overall great you are. Of course you know you are, but when someone tells you that they no longer wish to talk to you, spend any time with you and just generally wants to dissociate himself from you, you tend to forget.

Related: This Is Why He’ll Start Dating Someone Else The Week After You Break Up 2. Your friends take you out to dinner — sometimes they even pay. Because you’re being so open and crying and they feel bad for you, they sometimes tell you secrets about themselves. How they got dumped, too. Except their stories can be worse! Oh my God! You laugh. You get to know your friends in a new way. You know who your closest friends are. And you feel better.

3. You can buy whatever you want and not feel guilty. You deserve those new boots, and especially those sheets from Anthropologie. You need a pick-me up outfit for going out. And you’ve always wanted that St. Germaine lipstick from Mac. You don’t do this all the time, you’re mourning!

Related: Get Over Your Breakup In 47 Minutes With Our Breakup Playlist4. You can eat whatever you want and not feel guilty. But if you’re really lucky, you might even lose your appetite, lose a few pounds, and look even hotter. Silver lining.

5. You are more likely than EVER to meet another boy. People dig their cute single friends out of the woodwork to set you up. Plus you give off that I Am Newly Single Vibe, which is scientifically proven to attract a guy. If I could capture that pheromone and put it in a perfume bottle, I am convinced I would be the richest person alive.

Related: 7 Tips for Dealing With Social Media After a Break Up6. Your parents feel bad for you and give you lots of attention. Obviously working through some childhood issues here, but whatever. If you go home, Mom will make you whatever you want to eat and your dad will buy you something stupid that he would never ordinarily buy you, like a cute top or something un-dadlike.

7. You can be a total weirdo in your next relationship no matter what, even if you actually are a weirdo in relationships, and call it a “rebound”. Also, your rebound can be totally random — the guy you fantasize about but would never have pursued. “Dude, why is Natalie hooking up with that guy who works at Whole Foods?” “Reeeee-bounndddd.”

8. You can have several “rebounds” if in a specific time frame and not be considered slutty. This is the only time you can do this, so live it up. “Dude, why is Natalie hooking up with that guy who works at Whole Foods and the banker and her neighbor at the same time?” “Reeeee-bounddddd.”

9. You can fantasize about a whole new life. Maybe you’ll move to New Zealand, get your PhD in Educational Psychology, get a dog, or just bangs.

10. You can fall in love again. And you will! And when you do, you’ll get to feel those butterfly feelings again, and this time, you’ll realize how much better you could do than your ex. What was his name again?