A Guide to Moving On After a Bad Breakup
Trying to recover from a bad breakup is a tall task for anyone, and it’s one of those things that never really gets easier until you’re ready to embrace change, let go, and move forward with your life.
We are all carrying around at least a little bit of baggage from our past relationships, but the bad breakups – the nasty breakups, the breakups that we never saw coming, and the breakups that never should have happened in the first place – are the kinds of breakups that wound us the deepest.
Physical, Emotional, and Mental Health
The very first thing that you’re going to have to do to get yourself through a bad breakup is to change your mood. Do absolutely everything in your power to boost your mood (no matter how silly, crazy, or wild). This is a tall task on a normal day, and can feel like an almost insurmountable task when you’ve just split up with your ex.
Thankfully, it can be a lot easier to change your mood when you understand how important your physical body is. Your mood is going to be immediately boosted by working out, dancing, singing, jumping around, or just a generally getting up and out there. It’s the first step to getting you back into the game.
Cut Contact with your Ex
It might seem overwhelming to cut contact with your ex, especially if you texted, called, messaged, tweeted, and “FaceTimed” each other all day long (in addition to face-to-face contact). However it’s absolutely necessary to cut all contact, at least for a while, until you’ve healed yourself.
But you’re going to have to put in the effort to cut them out completely, or you’re never going to move on fully. This doesn’t mean that you’re never going to be able to talk to them again, just that you aren’t going to be able to until you’ve gotten past the bad breakup stage of your relationship.
Have your own solo date night
It’s always a good idea to have a date night where you take yourself out on the town with zero expectations. Maybe you hit a movie that you’ve been wanting to see, or maybe you cruise down to the book store and load up. Maybe you just get in a couple of extra workouts, take the kayak out, or do a couple of loops in the park with your dog. Whatever you have to do, it’s important that you get out into the world even if you aren’t out with someone else just yet!
Work On Yourself
Use the time following a bad breakup to work on yourself. You’ll be able to enter your next relationship as a stronger and healthier person, but only if you learn lessons from this breakup and work hard to make changes. Ottawa Counselling Services can equip you with the tools to be a healthy and supportive partner in a loving and stable relationship, if this was problematic in the past.