A breakup is tough for everyone involved – but you’ve got to have some dignity afterwards! Here’s what you need to avoid when you’ve been through a breakup.
What She Said:
Regardless of who ended it, its over. If it was your choice to end it, you must have had a good reason, and I hope you are feeling pretty confident about your choice. But, if it was him who broke your heart, you might be a hot mess of a woman. So, here are some things you should not do after a breakup that will help you heal.
Basically the last thing you want to do is act like Bridget Jones for weeks on end. Yes, you should take a few days to mourn the lose of a lover, but then you need to get your shit and yourself together. In order to do that, do not pour yourself a bottle of wine, play Alanis Morissette and cry into his favorite t-shirt. If he dumped you, you need to dump anything and everything that reminds you of him. Do not spend hours looking at photos of the two of you! That will just lead to you asking yourself where you went wrong, or asking yourself what you could have done differently.
That is all a waste of time, energy and will make you feel more depressed. You should also stop all forms of communication or means of communicating with him. Do not call, text or email him. I don’t care how drunk you are, believe me, there is no really cute story that he wants to hear, no funny joke he wants to hear, and he does not need to know that you thought about him. He will not be amused. Along that same idea, DO NOT Facebook stalk him. Do not check his Facebook page, his new photos or read into his status updates. You might even just go ahead and de-friend him.
It’s not easy, but holding on to ideas of him, or of his things or even just holding on to hope is not going to help you get over this breakup. The best thing to do is get back out there in the world! Go out with your girlfriends, live it up and be single again. While you’re at it, call up that guy you have always had a crush on and have some rebound sex. Like the old saying goes, the best way to get over someone, is to get under someone else.
What He Said:
It’s always best to rip the band aid off as opposed to removing it slowly. Get it over with. Cut off all ties immediately. Who cares why it happened? You’ll never really know and if you do find out you will probably wish you didn’t. Cut all ties. I mean everything. Delete their number from your phone. Cut all social media ties.
If they gave you something, get rid of it. It should be like a military cover-up: the relationship should be as if it never happened. Of course it did, you’re not lying to yourself, but you want to get rid of the reminders. You will still have the memories, but you don’t want anything around that triggers them, if you can avoid it.
Keep your mouth shut. Sure, you may want to talk about it with a friend or whatever, but do not blog about it. Do not post about what a jerk this person was on your Facebook, don’t do standup based on your relationship. You will only look like the idiot. It may feel good to do, but that’s it. You’ll look like the ass, and guess what? You will be.
Keep your mouth shut and speak only in positive, philosophical terms, if someone brings it up (everything happens for a reason, we just weren’t a good match, I wish him/her the best, etc). Obviously if they stole your couch or something, yes, call the cops, but assuming there isn’t a criminal element to your relationship, just move on, quietly, confidently and as positive as possible.
This is not to say you sugar coat anything, but if they’re that much of a jerk, shouldn’t you be happy it’s over? Don’t go away mad, just go away. Cut your losses (or count your wins, as the case may be), and go forward. And by all means, have sex with someone new as soon as possible. You should do the first new partner you can, even if you’re against hooking up with random people. It’s very important for the healing process. Seriously.