Dear Betty, My girlfriend and I broke up last week and now she is saying that she wants to be friends. What should I do? Given the challenges of becoming friends with an ex, I advise you to take at least a 30-day break, give yourself the time you need to get your [read more]
How a Painful Breakup Can Lead to Personal Growth
Don’t kid yourself. Breaking up can be brutally difficult. In many cases, it is akin to losing someone to death. The loss is complete. Ties severed. Someone who once filled your life and heart is now gone. Don’t pretend “it’s okay” when it’s not. Let yourself experience it, in whatever way is right for you. [read more]
Lovers to Friends? Should You Stay Friends after a Break-up?
“Let’s just be friends.” Four words dreaded by anyone who’s been in a fading or unequal relationship with what turns out to be a short shelf life. The comedic English singing duo, Rocky and Balls, sing about it quite hilariously in this video: Though the whole topic is superb fodder for a strange variety [read more]
Dating After A Breakup
Breaking up is hard to do. And it’s not just the actual breaking up part either. Dating after a breakup can be very difficult and timing can be everything. Breakups can leave you feeling like you are on shaky ground. You have lost something that at some point was near and dear to you. Even [read more]
Permission to Feel and a Chance to Heal: 5 Tips for Healing After a Breakup
Do you know… Someone like Norman? Within two weeks of his live-in girlfriend’s leaving him, he was making a profile on eHarmony. He said he wanted to “move on” and prove to himself (and his ex) that he’d be okay. He was not okay. At least not yet. Someone like Janelle? When her relationship ended [read more]
Knit Through It: Finding the Flow to Cope with a Break-up
The break-up of a relationship takes a toll on you. Whether you are the breaker or the breakee, your life is suddenly turned upside down. You may be feeling lonely, anxious, even completely depressed. Fears surface, and it is sometimes difficult to soothe yourself. You try the Haagen Dazs cure, but that only works for [read more]
Question: Should I try to get my girlfriend back?
Dear Betty, My girlfriend Nelly broke up with me last week. She said it was because she knew that our relationship had an expiration date—we are both going to be going off to grad school in the next 18 months and had already talked about how we probably wouldn’t do long distance. I was still [read more]