Ask Lemmy

hate to post a fb link, couldn't for the life of me get it to work otherwise

time will heal.

one day you will remember the good times instead of the bad.

that day will come.

meanwhile, best of luck

It feels awful to have someone completely change what they want out of life from under you. Know that he's probably been trending that way for a while, and it just took a while for him to bring it to words.

You're going to get angry with him soon, but what you're feeling right now is normal. You're dealing with grief, and there's stages. They're going to take months-years to work through. That's how this shit works.

There's no substitute for time.

Take how long you were together and roughly 1/3rd of that is your recovery time before you're going to have this as a distant, faded, annoying memory of a time before you were stronger and a more capable partner.

If you let yourself, you can use this as an opportunity to get stronger. I know it feels like the two of you were perfect for each other, and that you'll never find someone as special as him again, in all the ways that matter to you; and you're right, you won't, because you'll find someone that will be even more special and will really get you.

You just have to hang in there and give this some time to work through. Don't go rushing into another relationship imo, I've done that and it feels great in the moment, but all it does is delay your healing from this relationship even more. It will make your next breakup even worse, and then you're trapped in a cycle.

Take some time for yourself, give yourself a minimum of 6 months before you think about or start dating again. Nobody is emotionally ready for that out of the gate unless they're sociopaths.

You'll know when it's time. It'll feel right. I promise.

Until then, hang in there, and best of luck on the anger phase of this, that was a rough one for me and lasted longer than I care to admit before I learned to let it go.

You sound very young so I'll answer as if I was talking to my younger self,who was in the same situation (multiple times.) The answer to your question is simply "time." How much time is in large part up to you. My advice is to cut contact with this person, or at the worst, keep contact extremely minimal (if possible.) Probably best to just forget about him, really. Next, take a few months and just chill. Play some video games or watch movies. Reach out to some friends you haven't seen in a while. Or reach out to friends you see a lot. Get exercise. Just kick back and kinda exist for a while. Then think about getting back into the dating game. Maybe see if there's someone single you see often that interests you. Or do phone app dating or whatever.

My point is you're literally going to be fine and there is no reason to believe otherwise. Later in life you literally will not give a single fucking shit about this person or this time in your life. It will be a distant memory. And it will also serve as a learning experience for you, to take to future relationships. Experience like this is HUGE. Most people date multiple people seriously before finding their spouse or long term partner. All those people dealt with the same thing you are.

I know this isn't super helpful right now but hear me out.

This has been many many years ago but I went through a separation for over a year, got back together, and then eventually divorced. Swore I would never put my kid through what I went through as a kid but ended up doing it anyway. Absolute worst pain I’d ever felt at the time. Lost my house, went without a car for a while. Had to move back in with my mom. Pain eventually started to subside. Met another wonderful woman. Eventually got married again. My life is way better now than what I would have been had I stayed married to my now ex. What was absolutely the most horrible thing I’d ever felt, barely even registers now.

Eventually the pain will go away. But as a therapist once told me, the only way to get over the pain is to go through it. In 20 years, you’ll barely remember it.

I always suggest taking walks if the weather is nice. I recommend it to anyone. It's free, not time consuming, pretty much anyone can do it in some form.

Walking works because it's an action that doesn't require thought. You can take in your surroundings, and place the focus on that instead of yourself. It's the easiest way to get your mind off of something.

You can't just walk all the time, but if the pain comes up, just walk. Leave your phone if you can, too.

Give it time.

Ditch everything and go protest in California for a week.

Guaranteed to refresh your mind. Tear gas is very exfoliating and you will get in some cardio.

Seriously, though, change where you are. Go on a little vacation, get away for a bit.

Exist in and feel those emotions, and then let them go as much as you can. As others have said, time will heal this wound. Don't run into the arms of someone else or try to numb this pain; it's important you feel it. Rushing into another relationship will only bury this pain by putting you in an unhealthy situation; numbing it will only lead to bad decisions and possible substance abuse. Let yourself feel this way, as horrible as it feels, and understand that it won't be forever.

You will be okay, and to be honest you will probably be more than okay. In a period that seems impossibly long now but laughably short at the end of this, you will become a better, stronger, and healthier person with a greater capacity to love and the wisdom of who better to give that love to. It is difficult, but you will survive. And then you will thrive. Love yourself and ride this out. You got this.

I just dealing with something akin of that. I have her at my left right now choosing photos of a Paris trip I was not in. Want to tell me your story I tell you mine? Sometimes talking about it makes it heal at least a little.

I have a friend who all of a sudden was broken up with by their decade-long partner. Never saw it coming, never got full closure. Point is you can't look into someone's head and you might never get a definitive answer as to "why" and "how" and the sooner you accept that the sooner you can move on.

Sounds harsh now, but things end and this too shall pass eventually. Stay strong.

The real answer here is "time". You're grieving a loss, and it takes time for your mind to process that. It mostly isn't a voluntary process, so the question isn't only "how do I stop spiraling," but also "how do I get myself through the time it takes to recover." A few suggestions:

1. Sleep. As much as you can until you enjoy your time awake again. Time you spend asleep is time spent letting your subconscious sort out a changed situation. It's time spent healing.

2. Fast. Fasting releases endorphins starting about day 3. A healthy adult can safely keep up a clear liquids fast for up to 30 days without medical supervision. Don't do this with just water - clear liquids (see-through juices and broths) will keep up your hydration and important nutrients. The hunger basically goes away after day 3. The endorphins help make the time bearable, and help show joy is still possible.

3. Meditate. This will be a hard one, because for best results I'm not going to suggest guided meditation, but rather a mindfulness meditation practice. You can do this on your own, but a meditation group can help you get past some of the misconceptions most Westerners have about meditation (the goal is not to stop thoughts from coming up, realizing you've become distracted is success rather than a failure, etc.) If you're in college, there's very likely a group on campus that holds sessions at least weekly. If not, look for a Buddhist temple or Shambhala center in your area. Hindu Dhyana and Vipassana are similar. The group will probably meet weekly, but ideally you would make this a daily practice on your own.

4. Distract. Whatever takes your attention off the pain is a good thing, even if it isn't as enjoyable right now as it normally is. Reading, TV, video games, volunteer work, hobbies, learning a new skill. As long as it keeps your attention on something other than the grief.

5. Therapy. Again, if your in college, there may be short-term counseling available at no cost. In addition to a non-judgemental space to process out loud, many short-term therapy modalities offer tools for handling grief, sadness, and interrupting thought loops.

I'm afraid you can't really just stop it immediately. It will get better with time though. In the meantime healthy distractions are probably your best shot. When I was in similar situation to yours I started spending pretty much any free time I had on two things: running and learning guitar. Half of the time I was doing it with tears in my eyes but it was still better than just getting lost in depressing thoughts. It took me like 3 months until the breakup wasn't dominating my thoughts everyday. It was hard AF but in this time I actually learned something, improved and rediscovered myself. Sport and music have become major parts of my life. Now, years later, I'm actually thankful for this breakup. I wouldn't be the person I am today if it didn't happen and I definitely prefer current myself to the past myself.

You just need to plow through the hard times. It WILL get better! I wish you all the best.

Apologies for the direct question, but how old are you?

In a couple months you'll find someone or something new and exciting, and laugh at how this felt like the end of the world. Just make sure you don't wallow in a pit of depression. Go out into the world. Do your hobbies. Find new hobbies.

Also, consider using more line breaks for readability.