In some circumstances, all you need to do to avoid an ex is to delete his number, cut the social media ties, and be on your way. Other times, you’re in the same social circle and completely getting around encounters with him just isn’t possible. This, of course, gets a little more complicated when you’re still totally in love with him. How are you supposed to get over him when he’s in your face every day? The struggle is real.
- It sounds like a romantic comedy, but it’s not. This is what happens in movies when men realize they made a mistake and come crawling back… but in the real world, he’s already moved on with someone who lives in your neighborhood, no less.
- You spend a lot of time pretending like you don’t have feelings for him. You can’t have everyone privy to the fact that you’re pining after the guy, so you play it super cool… on the outside.
- People want to talk about it all the time. It’s harder to play it cool when your mutual friends are prying for details about the state of your relationship.
- You try to be friends with him. You figure if you’re going to see each other at every football party this fall, you might as well be friends. You can totally be just friends…
- It’s an absolute nightmare seeing him with someone else. It doesn’t really matter who he moved on with, it’s going to feel extremely weird to see it with your own eyes.
- It’s hard to forget about him. The context isn’t related to your past necessarily, but you just hear random things about him all the time, so he’s on your mind pretty frequently.
- Sometimes you feel like rubbing other guys in his face. It’s childish, but you want him to know that he’s not the only guy in the world and that you’ve totally moved on.
- You hold out a twinge of hope. Every time he smiles your way, you wonder if it was a casual smile or an “I’m remembering something” smile.
- Sometimes people start rumors. Imagine your surprise when his new girlfriend accosts you about the “affair” you’ve been carrying on since the two of you broke up. Yeah, in your dreams.
- New guys you date are suspicious of him. They can’t seem to understand how it’s actually over if you’re still brunching together on the weekends, even if it’s in a long standing group.
- You want your friends to yourself. Sometimes you don’t want to see him, but it’s not like you’re going to be the one to go find a new group of friends. These are your people.
- Emotions come up for no apparent reason. You had a crappy day at work, but it was seeing him that really pushed you over the edge, even though nothing notable happened.
- You can’t open up to all your friends. Some people would run and tell him everything you said about anything, so you become extremely selective about who you share your thoughts with.
- You feel weird and that’s okay. At a certain point, you just sort of make peace with the fact that you still care about the guy and try to get on with your life as much as possible.
