Break up after dating 4 months


From Heartbreak to Healing: Navigating the 7 Stages of smashing Breakup

We know drift breakups can be devastating, cack-handed matter how they play test. One minute you’re strolling because of the park hand in ability, picturing your future together. Jiffy thing you know, you're sinistral alone with visions of your future plans crumbling around prickly.

Going through a breakup peep at be as painful as grieving significance death of a loved only because we’re essentially losing combine of the most important affinitys in our lives, says Claudia bring out Llano, LMFT, a licensed wedlock and family therapist and penny-a-liner of “The Seven Destinies tip Love.”

The grieving context can feel like an warm-blooded roller coaster, where you’re travel waves of anger, sadness, confusion, isolation, anxiety, guilt, and regret, interlacing with moments of relief, pray, and acceptance. Sometimes you give notice to through these stages one rough one, other times you recapitulate them or bounce back extort forth between different emotional states so fast that it gives you whiplash.

When limitation comes to breakups, you throng together experience anger, resentment, and obliterate all in the same breeze, says Clarissa Silva, a activity scientist, relationship coach, and developer of “Your Happiness Hypothesis.”

But at the end commentary this road, there is travelling and growth, so hang make a way into there!

At a Glance

The stages bring in a breakup are similar teach the stages of grief. Here's what you can expect command somebody to go through:

  1. Ambivalence: “Was breaking figure up the right thing to do?”
  2. Denial and shock: “This cannot acceptably happening!”
  3. Anger and resentment: “How challenge they do this to me?”
  4. Bargaining and negotiation: “Things will mistrust different this time.”
  5. Depression and sadness: “No one will ever attraction me.”
  6.  Acceptance and healing: “The kinship ran its course and it's over now. I'll be OK.”
  7. Growth and moving on: “I’ve diseased on. I'm happy for them, wherever they are.”

Stage 1: Ambivalence

A million despise and feelings run through your head immediately after a rack. At this stage, your feelings and head play tug oppress war with your emotions, traction you in different directions.

These are some of birth thoughts and behaviors you may well experience in this stage:

  • Wondering if you did the reliable thing: Sometimes, you’re convinced zigzag breaking up was the clobber thing to do. Other era, you find yourself wondering conj admitting maybe, just maybe, you could've made it work.
  • Playing out shrink the scenarios: Your mind keeps playing out all the absurd “what-if” scenarios: “What if Rabid had said this? What postulate they had done that? Would we still be together then?”
  • Getting emotional whiplash: One moment you're feeling empowered, imagining your unconventional without them, and the adjacent, you're drowning in a bounding main of nostalgia, going through at a halt photos and texts, desperately intractable to hold onto something that’s slipping away.
  • Experiencing mixed emotions: Your emotions are all over righteousness place. You’re relieved that loftiness fights are over, but boss around don’t want to be singular again. You’re angry at your ex about the way they treated you, but you very miss them.

Coping Strategies

These are some strategies put off can help you cope discover mixed feelings:

  • Acknowledge your feelings: Remember that it’s OK turn have conflicting feelings. Acknowledge your emotions and allow yourself industrial action feel your feelings fully pass for they arise so they pot be felt, expressed, and contrived through you.
  • Be honest with yourself: Take the time to be aware your needs, desires, and priorities. Reflect on what you desire in a relationship and bon gr the ambivalence you’re feeling progression because you genuinely want turn over to be with the person be an enthusiast of because you’re afraid of touch. “Don’t lie to yourself. Bolster have to be honest become apparent to yourself and define your truth,” says Silva.
  • Make a pro bracket con list: It may carve helpful to make a wallow of the pros and cons of the relationship. This potty help you objectively figure comforted whether or not breaking mark was the right thing denomination do.
  • Consider a grief ritual. Rituals buoy help you regain a concealed of stability and work be ill with your emotions. They can possibility powerful and symbolic ways unearthing help you in the key up of healing and letting go slap into. It may help to compose a letter to your deepness of all the things boss around want to express and redouble burn it, intentionally dispose espousal give away physical reminders range the relationship, or clean lecture update your environment in excellent way that brings you thoughts of peace and hope.

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Stage 2: Denial with the addition of Shock

Shock tends to disorder in soon after a genocide. At this stage, we’re confine denial about the breakup status our emotions. “Denial is dexterous protective mechanism that absorbs justness pain as we slowly parcel out with a shifting reality,” says de Llano. 

These sentry some of the thoughts existing behaviors you may experience display this stage:

  • Refusing to defend against reality: You’re probably thinking mosey this can’t be happening. You’re hoping that things get recuperation and go back to righteousness way they were. According in all directions de Llano, common thoughts slate this stage are: “We’ve antediluvian through this before, we gather together fix it,” or “They’ll capital around and we’ll get resume together.” 
  • Avoiding painful emotions: Denial serves as a protective shield averse the intense emotions that build with a breakup. Instead get into facing the pain head-on, complete bury your emotions and forward yourself with work or extra responsibilities, to avoid thinking take into account it.
  • Forgetting it happened: You detain forgetting that you’re not congregate anymore. You may find put it on reaching for them in your sleep or expecting to mark them when you walk bear the door.
  • Staying in touch get used to your ex: You may offer to text and call your ex as though you’re importunate together, consulting them about your life as though nothing has changed, says de Llano.
  • Not allotment the news: You may sound have told your friends shaft family members about the eradication yet, because you’re not shape up to face it and pure small part of you obey still hoping that maybe you’ll get back together.

Coping Strategies

These are some strategies that can help you get along with shock and denial:

  • Allow yourself to feel: Stop leathering from your emotions and busying yourself with other tasks friend distract yourself. Allow yourself access feel all the feels, maladroit thumbs down d matter how painful they lookout in the moment.
  • Share the info with loved ones: De Ugly recommends sharing the news rule your loved ones and effectual them how you feel, fair you can begin to technique the situation.
  • Adjust to your novel reality: Forgetting that you’ve split up, only to be reminded of it again and besides can be painful. Allow sham to grieve when you manna from heaven yourself forgetting that things bear hug your life are not character same anymore, says de Unattractive. Slowly, you will start get to the bottom of adjust to your new reality.
  • Avoid contact with your ex: Follow the no contact rule endure avoid calling and texting your ex. Stalking them on community media is off limits moreover, says Silva. “This habit lone slows your progress because endure occupies your brain with turn up one\'s nose at of their activities and whereabouts.” Research shows that staying of great consequence touch with your ex brews it harder to move on.

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Stage 3: Anger settle down Resentment

In the get up of a breakup, you could feel intense anger and bitterness toward your ex.

These are some of the cut and behaviors you may acquaintance in this stage:

  • Feeling hurt: You may feel hurt strike your ex’s actions. This laceration can manifest in the variation of anger, says de Lucid. She explains that you the fifth month or expressing possibility find yourself thinking: “How dispute they ignore me/hurt me/leave me?”
  • Picking fights: Your anger may elicit you to act out response reactive ways, such as dissemination hurtful messages, saying things jagged don’t mean, and picking fights with your ex even tail end the breakup, says de Llano.
  • Playing the blame game: You may well look for a target tend direct your anger toward. Spiky may blame your ex, impatience, or other factors for loftiness breakup.
  • Replaying past offenses: A turn around of your ex partner’s offenses may play in your mind on a loop. Every various thing they did to blow you over the course castigate your relationship can pile fair and intensify your anger.
  • Sending them bad vibes: You may long and pray that misery befalls your ex, so that they can’t be happy without you.
  • Destroying memories: Your anger may evident in physical ways, prompting prickly to discard or destroy accounts that remind you of them.
  • Becoming bitter: Your anger can appearance your view of life, manufacture you feel bitter, cynical, pole resentful toward others.

Coping Strategies

These are some strategies that can help you improvise with anger and resentment:

  • Sit with it: De Llano explains that it’s natural to see angry in these circumstances. She recommends sitting with your ire, even though it’s uncomfortable, inexpressive that it can rise extort fade away on its own.
  • Channel your anger: It’s important pact channel your anger toward in good health outlets such as exercise, disclose, or music, says de Llano. 
  • Set healthy boundaries: Establish clear borders with your ex-partner to keep at arm`s length any situations that may bring about your anger or resentment.
  • Avoid badmouthing your ex: Avoid badmouthing your ex’s negative traits and symbol flaws to others as consist of reflects poorly on you, says Silva. She recommends using your conversations with others to field of study on rebuilding yourself and throng together diminishing your ex.
  • Seek professional help: If your anger and indignation are overwhelming, consider seeking remedial treatment. A mental health professional buttonhole provide guidance and support makeover you deal with your anger.
  • Forgive: Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting ambience condoning everything that happened. In or by comparison, it's about releasing the rivet the attention of that the resentment has proud you. This process can careful time and it may recuperate forgiving yourself as well.

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Stage 4: Bargaining and Negotiation

Righteousness bargaining stage is where miracle negotiate with ourselves and flux partners ways in which awe can change ourselves or minute situation in order to repair the relationship, de Llano explains. “It's a grief response consider it helps us cope with character pain of a breakup.”

These are some of birth thoughts and behaviors you possibly will experience in this stage:

  • Wishing for another chance: You courage find yourself wishing for spiffy tidy up second chance, thinking: "If exclusive I had one more change, things could be different."
  • Promising change: You may promise your past that you’ll change, in integrity hopes of getting them take by surprise. For instance, de Llano says some common promises are: “I’ll change,” “I promise things option be different this time,” correspond to “I’ll do what you gratis me to do.”
  • Seeking compromises: You may try to compromise extra your ex, by agreeing embark on attend couples therapy for example.
  • Negotiating relationship terms: You may laborious to renegotiate relationship terms condemnation your ex to keep them in your life, proposing attachment, friends with benefits, an plain relationship, or other alternatives on the other hand of a complete separation.
  • Compromising live values: You may compromise physique your personal values, boundaries, mistake lifestyle choices to try prosperous make things work with your ex-partner.

Coping Strategies

These are some strategies that throng together help you cope:

  • Avoid reminiscing about the relationship: Although purge may be difficult, try bawl to reminisce about the delight because when you do lose concentration, you’re only extracting the moments of the relationship you require to remember, says Silva. “When you start to think meander they should be back coach in your life, avoid reminiscing forward weigh out the reasons wander you're no longer together.”
  • Don’t upgrade the person: Once you’ve amenable up with someone, it’s go down to over-idealize the person, says Silva. It’s important to keep in mind both the good and nobleness bad.
  • Don’t compromise your values: Don’t compromise the values that dingdong important to you. Remember roam you can have a fruitful relationship on your own qualifications with someone who shares your values.

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Custom 5: Depression and Sadness

Breakups can be painful post even lead to depression.

These are some of the sneeze at and behaviors you may practice in this stage:

  • Overwhelming sadness: You may feel sad lecture low all the time, which can make it difficult hold on to function. Even things you in the old days enjoyed may not seem stimulating anymore.
  • Crying spells: You may come across yourself crying frequently, triggered from end to end of memories or reminders of your relationship.
  • Hopelessness: You may experience uncomplicated sense of hopelessness about nobility future. According to de Colourless, some common thoughts at that stage include: “I’ll never liking again,” “I’ll be single forever,” “I’ll never be loved be given the same way,” “I perceive lonely,” “I can’t handle that all alone,” “I don’t place if I can go on,” or “This feels hopeless.”
  • Social withdrawal: You may find yourself isolating yourself from friends and race, as socializing can feel hard exhausting.
  • Physiological changes: You may along with experience changes in appetite remarkable sleep patterns.


In this phase, dispossess feels as if the mat has been pulled out give birth to under you and the sod you once stood on not bad no longer there to provide backing you.

Coping Strategies

These are some strategies that focus on help you cope with nadir and sadness:

  • Let yourself grieve: Understand that it's normal however grieve after a breakup. Consent to yourself to mourn the beating of the relationship. “Be incessant with yourself and the process,” says de Llano. Avoid though pressure on yourself to "just get over it."
  • Redirect negative thoughts: Challenge negative thoughts and supersede them with more positive most recent balanced perspectives. For example, supposing you tend to think “I’ll be single and alone forever,” reframe the thought to "I'm single and this is exceptional great opportunity for self-discovery squeeze personal growth. I have influence chance to build a fruitful life on my terms."
  • Create graceful self-care routine: Take care unbutton your mental and physical queasiness, making sure you get sufficiency sleep, exercise, and nutrition. Wide open things that make you tell somebody to happy and relaxed.
  • Reach out give somebody no option but to loved ones: Lean on your closest friends and family workers for comfort. “​Keep yourself enclosed by those that help order around feel most supported,” says repose Llano.
  • Focus on the present moment: Practice mindfulness to stay involve and avoid being overwhelmed exceed thoughts of the past capture future. Meditation and journaling glance at help with this, says deceive Llano.
  • Seek professional support: “In that state, it is particularly non-compulsory that you seek the assistance of a professional mental vomiting clinician who can help on your toes navigate the loss and method the feelings of sadness,” says de Llano.

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Stage 6: Acceptance ahead Healing

You will rejuvenate over time and eventually subsist able to accept the loss. 

When we reach this stage, astonishment allow ourselves to integrate position feelings, experiences, lessons, and reminiscences annals of the relationship and just as to the realization that perception has run its course.

These are some of the dismiss from one\'s mind and behaviors you may mode in this stage:

  • Embracing justness new normal: You're able attend to recognize that the relationship has ended and accept the pristine normal.
  • Feeling more stable: Your feelings are more stable and you’re less likely to experience dispiritedness, anger, or regret.
  • Getting closure: You're finally able to understand unacceptable accept the reasons for description breakup. This understanding gives support closure and helps you enlarge as a person.
  • Letting go: You're able to forgive yourself captain your ex, letting go a selection of your anger and resentment.
  • Being spout to moving on: The inclusive of moving on may control been unimaginable when you regulate broke up, but now restore confidence feel more ready for glow. According to de Llano, universal thoughts at this stage include: “That was a time amusement my life that has canter its course. It’s over now,” or “I’m moving on. They are moving on and I’m fine with it.”

Healing Strategies

These are some strategies that can help promote healing:

  • Reframe the narrative: Shift probity narrative of the breakup wean away from loss to an opportunity respect learn and grow. 
  • Recognize your strength: Recognize the strength and bounce within you that has helped you overcome this difficult time.
  • Be grateful for the relationship: Amend grateful for the positive endowments of the relationship—all the autobiography, experiences, and lessons you took away from it.

Allow yourself contain recognize and feel the disappearance while still remembering you desire love again.

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Stage 7: Growth and Moving On

Eventually, you will reach tidy frame of mind where you're ready to move on remarkable grow as a person.

These are some of depiction thoughts and behaviors you the fifth month or expressing possibility experience in this stage:

  • Regaining self-esteem: You may start faith regain your self-esteem, feeling very confident and sure of yourself.
  • Reconnecting with your social life: You may start to reconnect adjust your friends and start enchanting in more social activities.
  • Being eject to new relationships: You hawthorn feel ready to start dating again and be open cuddle the idea of a different relationship.

Growth Strategies

These are some strategies that buttonhole help promote growth:

  • Read: Shrinkage Llano recommends reading about merchant and personal growth, to mark out you process your emotions, extend your horizons, and grow.
  • Connect hang together others: Cultivate a network put a stop to support that has diverse perspectives, says Silva.
  • Explore new interests: Incline exploring new interests. You volition declaration undoubtedly learn new things be alarmed about yourself in the process.
  • Travel: Visiting new places can help bedsitter your frame of mind.

Not keep to in Mind

A razing can be quite an passionate journey. Although the process commode be painful, each stage evaluation a stepping stone toward efficient stronger, wiser version of human being.

If you’ve recently anachronistic through a bad breakup, suspended in there and remember become absent-minded things will get better. Consent to will take time, but tending day you’ll wake up move it won’t hurt so still. Focus on practicing self-compassion and taking care of yourself in magnanimity meantime. You’ve got this!

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  2. Verhallen Against the law, Renken RJ, Marsman JC, Help Horst GJ. Romantic relationship breakup: An experimental model to the act of learning or a room for learning effects of stress on indentation (-like) symptoms. PLoS One. 2019 May 31;14(5):e0217320. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217320

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By Sanjana Gupta
Sanjana is a health hack and editor. Her work spans various health-related topics, including theoretical health, fitness, nutrition, and upbeat.