Don't bottle up your emotions. Trying to repress feelings often leads to more pain. Rather than ignoring the pain, open yourself up to the full spectrum of emotions. Grieve for what could have been. Express gratitude that this friend has been in your life. Think of the good and bad times. Whatever emotions come, accept them. If the emotions are too overwhelming, take a break from thinking about your friend. Relax, recharge, and revisit the situation when you're ready. Talk to other friends or someone you trust. Getting your feelings out can keep you from dwelling on the situation. Third parties can also give you an outside perspective. Sometimes a good cry can be cathartic. If you need to cry, find somewhere you're comfortable and let it out. In the midst of these strong feelings for your friend, you may neglect taking care of yourself. But practicing self-care in this time will help you regain confidence and maintain supportive relationships as you process your emotions. Do activities that strengthen your physical and emotional well-being, and take care of your personal hygiene. Emotional self-care might include: Reading a book, spending time with a friend, listening to music, getting a massage, or learning something new. Physical self-care might include: Going for a walk, exercising, getting enough sleep, staying hydrated, or scheduling a medical check-up. Humor really can be the best medicine. Comic relief can help you de-stress and keep a light perspective in life. Watch a silly movie, read humorous novels, or visit a local comedy club. At the very least, laughter can distract you when you need time away from your thoughts. Sometimes people use humor as a coping mechanism in hard times. Make sure that you're not using jokes to repress painful feelings. Getting your feelings out (whether in words, art, or song) will help you collect your thoughts and process all the emotions you might be feeling. You can share your work with others, or you can just keep it for yourself. The important part is expressing yourself fully. If you're not the creative type, start a journal. Seeing your emotions on paper will help you work through them. While getting over a crush on your friend, your self-esteem may plummet. You may worry that nobody will ever love you like you wish your friend did. Believing in yourself again can help you cope with the pain and cultivate hope in the future. Write down your strengths on a piece of paper to remember when you're feeling low, and set reachable goals every day to remind yourself that you can do hard things. Low self-esteem can be a sign of depression, which is difficult to cure alone. If you think you may be depressed, tell a loved one or see a counselor.

Summary: Allow yourself to feel without restrictions. Practice self-care. Let yourself laugh. Express your feelings creatively. Regain your confidence.

Use a portable air monitor to test the air outside and make sure that the levels are normal before venturing there. You also need to make sure that any fires or flooding caused by the comet have subsided. Acid rain is also a potential result from massive fires putting pyrotoxins into the air, which would make going outside deadly. Have a reason to go outside, like being out of food or supplies, or hearing about other groups of people who survived and wanting to join them. Whatever the comet did not destroy can be salvaged for use, like food, batteries, water, or anything else you'd find useful from abandoned stores and houses. Make sure that you are not stealing from anyone and that the goods have been abandoned by their previous owners to avoid confrontations. There is a chance that the location you try to scavenge in has already been sorted through, depending on the length of time you've been hiding out. If you've managed to survive the comet impact, there's a good likelihood that others have as well. Hunger breeds violence and people will want to your steal supplies in order to survive. Always try to resolve things peacefully, not violently. There may be other groups willing to share resources as long as you share yours. Always approach people cautiously, but not in a hostile manner. Non-perishable and canned food won't sustain you forever, so you will have to get used to hunting and gathering your own food. Designate different people based on their strengths to search for food. Moving near the equator will be warmer and if the dirt is fertile, this will allow you to begin to grow food for consumption. Having more people in your group will allow you to search for food more effectively. Moving near a large body of water will allow you to fish. Use survival guides to determine what foliage is good to eat and what is poisonous. A popular vote is a direct democracy and would work so that everyone had a voice in matters that affect the group. While having a final decision maker or leader is conventionally how smaller groups tend to act, having everyone's voice be heard will hopefully ensure less fighting in your group. As your group gets larger, the governance system becomes more critical. Make sure to hold everyone to the same standards.
Summary: Make sure the environment is safe before going out into the world. Scavenge for additional supplies and food. Prepare to defend yourself from desperate survivors. Move to a fertile place near the equator and plant vegetable seeds. Create a governance system for your new society.