Surviving a Break Up

How do you deal with breaking up?

Most of the time, we don't like to see our relationships end. (Unless, of course, you're glad to get out of it.) Breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend can be complicated, but what happens when you try to end things with a guy who you were only casually seeing, or even just hooking up with? If nothing was official (or at least kind of), breaking up isn't so cut-and-dried anymore.

It's hard to end something if neither of you had acknowledged that something was happening in the first place. Some guys will simply just avoid you if they want the whole "we weren't dating and I don't know what to call this" thing to end, but if you happen to be seeing a guy who is mature enough to want to actually talk to you about the situation, things can still seem sort of sticky.

I've been in both situations. The first time, the guy I was kind-of-sort-of hooking up with (it was very off and on) decided that the best way to end things was to avoid me entirely, because he thought I wanted a relationship with him (I didn't, for various reasons). Even though I wasn't sure I wanted to take things further, the fact that he didn't feel like he could talk to me about the situation we were in was incredibly frustrating. We wound up talking it out eventually, but I would have liked to know how he felt up front, instead of three months down the line.

The next guy I met made it very clear he didn't want a relationship, but because he told me that right away, I respected him even more for it. Instead of avoiding the situation (or me!), he was honest and up front about how he felt, and I think that I was a lot more okay with the situation because he owned up to his actions in the first place.

Has this ever happened to you?

Whitney Portnoy

CosmoGIRL! Photo Intern

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
More From Love