How To Survive Life After Mad Men

Last night, many of us bid adieu to some of our favorite imaginary friends: the cast of Mad Men.

It was a bittersweet ending, filled with sad goodbyes, surprising new couples, pleasantly unexpected plot twists, and a semi-ambiguous ending (spoiler alert: he totally came back and did Coca-Cola, you guys–and if one Twitter user is right, Joan directed the commercial). Even better, there were no (on-screen) deaths and no rapes (I’m looking at you disapprovingly, Game of Thrones)!

By the end of the episode, many of you were probably pretty sauced (it was a long marathon, so I get that some were on a bender since Wednesday), and afterward were left wondering: Well, now what?

It’s okay, y’all. There is life after Mad Men. If you’re wondering how to make it through the next 2…5…50 years of your life (as you wait anxiously for another 1960s revival to occur), here are a few things that’ll keep you sane.

Build Your Home/Office Bar

Ever since I started watching Mad Men, I have dreamt of becoming a pro at mixing classy cocktails and only purchasing quality scotch/bourbon/gin/vodka/etc. I even went through a phase of only ordering Manhattans at bars. Buy yourself a copy of The Ultimate Bar Book, hit up a Total Wine, thrift yourself some sweet bar furniture and make your Draper Household dreams come true.

Conversely, just learn how to order classy drinks and hit the bar with your BFF.

Follow The Careers Of The Cast

I know, I know. It’s not Don and Peggy and Joan and Roger, etc. But the actors that brought these amazing characters to life will play other roles soon enough.

Check it out:

Don-er I mean, Jon Hamm is going to be in the upcoming Wet Hot American Summer television series! Wait, what?!? Okay, just finding that out now already made me feel a bit better about not seeing Draper fall in bed with another girl.

Elisabeth Moss (a.k.a. Peggy) has two new movies coming out this year: Truth (about Dan Rather) and High Rise (with Jeremy Irons). Not to mention you can watch her be brilliant on Top of the Lake or in the quirky and bizarre movie The One I Love, if you’ve got Netflix Instant Watch, anyway.

Vincent Kartheiser will be channeling his inner Pete Campbell for his role in The Blunderer, about an architect who gets tangled up in an unsolved murder in the 1960s. The exceedingly handsome Patrick Wilson will be joining him, and that guy always knows how to pick roles.

And if you need more, just hit up the ol’ IMDB and look up your favorite cast members.

Write (Or Seek Out) Some Fan-Fiction

The internet is already ablaze with ideas for Mad Men spin-offs (which, let’s face it, won’t happen beyond poorly written fan fiction posted on old Livejournal pages).

Pete and Trudy will be swingers. Key parties in Kansas. #madmenfinale

— Nichelle Stephens (@niche) May 18, 2015

I’m probably going to try and keep the spirit of Mad Men alive by writing erotic fan fiction about Stan Rizzo pic.twitter.com/qngc2pbvwn

— Mel (@Melabeee) April 29, 2015

All I want in life is to be Roger Sterling and be in love with Joan #MadMenFanFiction

— Eric Joellenbeck (@EricJoellenbeck) April 9, 2015

Peggy & Stan later had a son. #MadMenFinale pic.twitter.com/gOxUIUX7WD

— Diane N. Sevenay (@Diane_7A) May 18, 2015

You get the idea.

Learn How To Perfect Those Sweet 60s Looks

Wondering how to look as stylish as late-60s Peggy? Hit up Pinterest! Or if Joan’s look is more your style, this sweet Tumblr page has a bunch of images to Hollowayesque outfits, complete with links to their ModCloth shop pages. And if you want to reminisce about Don’s look, GQ has you covered with a slideshow of everything Don ever wore. Seriously, though. Who wouldn’t want to revamp their closet with these threads?

Betty Draper will always look good. Even in six months to a year. 😥

And if all else fails…Netflix has almost every episode of Mad Men on Instant Watch, where you can relive the time that guy’s foot got run over by the lawn mower at Sterling-Cooper and the time Betty started shooting her gun outside while wearing her nightgown and the time Peggy found out she was pregnant (and subsequently had a baby) and the first truly poetic and amazing speech by Don (The Carousel) and the best scenes between Peggy and Don (The Suitcase) and and and…you get the picture.

How will you fill this new void? Game of Thrones? Orange Is The New Black? By actually going out and getting a job as an accounts man or copywriter? By giving up smoking (please, PLEASE if you’re still smoking, learn something from the loss of Betty and quit…says the woman telling you to start your home bar)? Let me know in the comments.