Spring Cleaning: Your Life After the Ex

If a breakup has left you inconsolable, take heart--we've all been there. Here's your guide for getting over the ex and on with your life.

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Breakups are referred to as a “breakup” for a reason; because your relationship is broken. Now it is time to put it behind you and move on to more fulfilling experiences. Though this may seem a hard task to attempt, you will be stronger and smarter after you clean out those old emotional cobwebs. The good news is that it gets easier every day, but not without some soul-searching and a proactive plan to start you on the road to recovery.

Forgive and Forget

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Forgive them – and yourself – and forget them (or at least forget the painful part). Carrying around hatred and “what-ifs” only sets you back. It’s quite all right to have a good cry and feel sorry for yourself a bit; accepting the pain is part of moving on. A failed romance doesn’t mean you are a bad person; it just means things didn’t line up. It may have been a mistake, but every relationship – good or bad – is a lesson learned. Congratulate yourself for being brave enough to take a risk at love, and have faith that you are worthy of love and respect in the future. If you don’t believe that you deserve the best, when will you ever get it? Up the ante and demand more. Think about what Grandma used to advise: “You accept less because you expect less.” She also threw in funny little anecdotes about how the “bus stops at every corner,” confident that you would have other chances to do it right.

Clean House

How are you supposed to have a clean start with the old dirt still hanging around? Purge old pictures and mementos that remind you of the former flame. Just getting the bits and pieces out of plain view will do the trick; stuff them in a hard to reach place for those faltering days of uncertainty. Better yet, transform your surroundings. Moving always helps, but if you aren’t making a geographical shift in scenery, revamp what you already have. Get new drinking glasses to replace those commonly used by you and your mate in happier times. Try some new art on the wall to replace the photo of your vacation together last year. Ridding your environment of tangible items may help to reduce the reminders of days gone by and, instead, offer a new perspective.

Illegal Contact

Of course, it’s not against the law to stay in contact with your former amour, but you will be better off if you keep your distance. Even if both of you have decided to stay friends, you must take a complete break before you can change gears to a platonic relationship. That means no spending time together, no phone calls to say “hi,” no e-mails, no instant messaging, and especially, no sex. Until you feel that you truly can treat your ex as a buddy, without an ulterior motive, you aren’t ready to keep in contact.

Keeping Busy

Find something constructive to get you back in tune with you. Try a new hobby, sport, or workout regimen. Or take a class that will hold your attention and require you to focus on a positive and productive personal evolution. Once you've endured the grief, it's time to find diversions that get you out of your circular thoughts. Keeping busy helps to stop the rehashing of old memories and allows you to remember who you were before the relationship.

A true metamorphosis takes time, so be patient and take as long as you need. The healing process varies for everyone and is based on a completely personal timeline. If you trust in yourself and the support of your family and friends, these thorough cleansing methods will help you to determine the lessons behind your loss. Spring never comes before winter, so do the work, embrace the rejuvenation process, and respect your natural progression.

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116 comments on “Spring Cleaning: Your Life After the Ex


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movin_on wrote:
Well, now she suddenly has a boyfriend (yeah, after 7 mos) I suppose she is deperate and lonely. But when you set your standards low anyone will do. Anyway, the boyfriend revelation has now set me back to the earliest days of the break.
It appears from this exerpt of your post that you may still have some issues with your ex. The idea that your ex found another guy so fast seems to bother you. You go as far to saying that she lowered her standards. When I got divorced I was not looking for a girlfriend but doing what this article described. I did meet someone about 3 months later who was 180 degrees from my ex. My new girlfriend was college educated and a home owner while my ex was a high school drop out who lived her whole life on welfare. I definitely did not lower my standards but rather raised the bar.We dated and were planning marriage before I let my ego get in the way. I kept my contact with my ex minimal only contacting her about the kids to arrange to pick them up. I think before you are fully over your ex you need to think about why her getting a new guy so fast bothered you so much. This kind of remark is not going to help you in the future dating scene.
- January 26, 2009 09:37 AM

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robachv wrote:
dpackup wrote:
This article came at a time when I really need it. After a 20 some year relationship (married for 11) it is going on almost 3 years since I left and I still cannot get my life together and go forward. How long does this take??? I do have some days when I really feel okay and that I am going to be okay and then days like today when I called in sick to work because the emotional toll has physically sucked the life out of me again! He is of course living with someone in a house while I am on my 3rd crappy apartment. I lost everything including the house because he had become a crack addict. I tried to help him, did all the right things and I told him if he went back to using I would leave him. He went back, of course, it is an addiction, and I left. Inside my head I didn't really want to go, I loved him but I felt I had to keep my word on leaving him. I had left him 3 times in 20 years for other things but never for more than 6 months and always went back. Now, I just feel so alone and useless. I have done everything the article talks of and more! The depression was so bad at one time they wanted to commit me but I took off work for a couple weeks and got it back together with the help of meds and my doctors. I have never experienced a type of mental illness so intense and long lasting and I feel as if I will never get better. I cry now as I write this. I usually push every emotion down because I hate feeling them even though I know better. Yes, I have counselors, and self-help books and exercise and everything a person can possible do, but each day feels as if I am going throught the emotions only. I never feel alive. I have two children,only one from my ex but they both are out on their own now, a girl 18 who hasn't stopped hating me for 3 years and a son 25 who is married with a son of his own and really never has time to see me. I am tired of this an so tired of trying to keep it together. I would never do anything stupid because in the last 3 years nothing I have done has been done right. It is like the bad luck never stops and I have had things happen to me you only see on t.v. ....if there is a chance in hell something could go wrong, it does. I think there is a black cloud stuck over my head permanently! I am jealous that my ex has found someone and they now live together in a house and he is happy. There, I said it. I am jealous! But I don't feel I am ready to even start seeing someone, in fact I have signed up on match sites only to stop half way through and never complete them. I know I sound like such a loser but I really am not. I mean, before I left my ex I was so alive! I was a part-time firefighter on one fire department and part-time EMT tech on the city ambulance, worked full-time in the ER of the hospital, loved to read, surf the net, decorate my home, camp (I lost the camper due to the divorce he sold it for drug money) and I worked the local music festivals as an EMT getting carte blanche for all the big name acts, and just lived! Now, I work still in the ER but not as much and the rest of the time work in the clinical setting, am attending school online part-time to finish my MA degree which is so hard to concentrate on, and that is it! I go through the motions every day. Some days though a little tiny bit of sun will come through and I will hold my breath and think "oh my God, is it finally going away? Is my life going okay? Yes, I will be okay!" and then the next day I am so down I can't get out of bed. Like today, I am home from work because the emotional toll takes its effect on my physical self and I am physically drained. This used to happen every few months but is now happening every few weeks. I thought things got better as time went on? I am totally blown away that I even posted on here, it is the first time I have done anything like this and am a little embarrassed that I babbled on and on. I guess it just flowed once I started. Please don't get me wrong, I am not some psycho...just really not doing well in coming out of the depression. Kind of like a functioning alcoholic, I am a functioning depressionist!..ha ha...I do really appreciate all the feedback left here because you all have some great ideas, even a few I didn't think of and believe me I thought I had them all! ...couseling, doctors, exercise, self-help books, my dog, my family, my spiritualism, ...all worked for awhile and then slowly tapered off. I don't have any contact with my ex now, I did in the first 2 years and we even went on a couple dates, but I didn't make a big move to show or try to show him I wanted it to work. I was waiting for him to do it. The thing about my ex is, he never makes the first move in anything and I had left him 3 other times before during our relationship only for me to decide to go back, he never asked me nor showed me he wanted me back, he just accepted it. So, I guess I wanted him to say it or show it, but he never did. I would always get so mad that he couldn't take the initiative to do anything on his own. He would talk it, like "let's get a divorce, sell the house, the &*^% with it" but HE didn't do it, I did. I did my own divorce without a lawyer, paid for it, did everything and he just floated along. Although at the time he was still using crack so ....well, I guess I have over done it here and apologize for such a rambling on, maybe though finding this article with this site being available was a sign? A good sign that I needed today. Thanks all!
Hey Dpackup: You really opened up your heart about your ex. I appreciated when you mentioned that your ex never took initiative. Its as if he's only concerned about his getting high. I can identify with your past relationship, because I had a similar situation. My ex was a drug addict and he was addicted to crack cocaine. I was his enabler. What actually brought me to my senses was when my ex was attending a NA meeting. He had an affair with a woman who was a member. I actually woke up, and realized that I was his enabler, and If I continued with this behavior, It would not change. In due time you are going to get better, It may not seem like it but just hang on in there. The clouds are going to eventually move away. Take care and do give up robachv
Hey girl. Just wanted to personally thank you for opening up your heart. I know your pain and it STINKS bigtime. Let me know what ever works for you and I will share with you whatever helps me. They say misery loves company. Thank you so much for your company. Stay well... Stay in touch.
- January 25, 2009 05:41 PM

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Tough road to be sure. Worse than when my spouse died. Or just perhaps a different kind of hurt since G is still here. Waitting for the healing...
- January 25, 2009 05:33 PM

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