Went through a bad break up when I was in my early 20’s. I was in love and tried to hang on too long, which just made things worse for both of us. She made it clear that she loved me very much, but wanted to “spread her wings” a little as we had been together for almost 5 years. I was starting grad school at SUNY Oswego, and she was in her final year of undergrad at Cornell beginning to look at law schools.
I was an absolute mess for a while. Even dating other girls didn’t help in the short term. The hardest part was that she wanted to keep in touch, which just destroyed me every time I spoke with her. It was so bad I delayed going to grad school for a year and moved to Rochester and lived with a couple of my close buddies. Being far away and somewhat cut off from her helped.
Long story short...she called me out of the blue about 2 years later. She was emotional and expressed that she had made a huge mistake, and was wondering if there was any way possible that we could work things out. I was in a brief relationship with a really great girl at the time, so I told her thanks but no thanks. That was such a weight lifted off my shoulders...the feeling in my soul that I didn’t need her to complete me anymore.
We still keep in touch here and there. She ended up marrying a great guy. We were actually lacrosse teammates in HS and somewhat friends. We both have successful careers and beautiful families. Time heals all wounds I guess.