Wanis explains that this same phenomenon occurs in addiction and is directly related to the pleasure or reward centers of the brain. Euphoric recall is kryptonite to being able to move on, says April Davis, owner and founder of LUMA-Luxury Matchmaking. If you only remember the good times you shared together, you’ll have a very difficult time moving forward. “It’s good to keep in mind that they’re an ex for a reason, and it can be good to remember the times that were not so great as well,” Davis advises. According to Cherlyn Chong, a transformational coach who specializes in breakup recovery, if you find yourself thinking that your ex was the best you could get and you’ll never find someone after them, you’ve adopted a fixed mindset as opposed to a growth mindset. “This is when you’ve taken the relationship to mean much more about you than anything else,” Chong explains, and your self-esteem is essentially reliant on your ex. In this mindset, “if the relationship fails, it’s because you weren’t good enough, and therefore, you’re not good enough for other relationships either.” Unfortunately, explains Chong, if you continue having this fated mindset, then that’s precisely what you are going to get in life. Nothing is stopping you from finding new, perhaps even better love—except your own self-defeating attitude. “Suffering might actually be so familiar to you that you might even be addicted to it, in the same way one becomes addicted to smoking,” Chong tells mbg. And sometimes, suffering might be the only thing left from the relationship, and you’re afraid that if you let it go, you won’t have anything of the relationship left. In other words, it feels good to feel bad. Ultimately maintaining contact, being in the same social circle, and/or following your ex on social media can exacerbate your distress and prevent you from moving on. The no-contact rule is the best way to move on. That said, Paul adds that sometimes people can land on an explanation for the breakup and then become obsessed with it: “Because most people have a difficult time tolerating emotional pain, the ego steps in and turns to obsessing about why the breakup occurred, either blaming everything on your partner or yourself,” she explains. “Neither of these negative mind maneuvers are productive toward the ultimate goal of a breakup, which is to grieve the loss to completion and learn whatever you can about yourself.” If you can’t figure out the why, that’s OK too. Not all breakups “make sense,” and it’s OK that sometimes people follow their feelings to make decisions rather than using any “logical” reason. Allow yourself to accept that you can’t change what happened. Take the lessons you can from it, and then put the analyzing to rest. On that note, drowning your feelings only lengthens the amount of time it takes to get over a breakup, says John Kahal, a mental health and addiction expert and founder of Capo by the Sea Rehab in San Juan Capistrano, California. “When dealing with a breakup, one of the most common ways people cope is by drowning their sorrows in alcohol or self-medicating in other ways,” he tells mbg. “It can become a comfortable way to numb out and avoid feelings of sadness or loneliness while the pain of a split is fresh.” Instead of trying to push the feelings away, drowning them out with alcohol, or falsely pretending to be fine, both Kahal and Zarrabi emphasize the importance of processing and confronting post-breakup feelings. “Perhaps try a little detox from alcohol, and take some time to let yourself feel and process the emotions the breakup brought on,” Kahal suggests. “This can bring about some much-needed closure and allow you to gain some fresh perspective, which is essential to the process of moving on.” “If you come from a childhood of abandonment, abuse, or even just feeling misunderstood, especially by one’s parents or caretakers, you may be triggered by the loss of a relationship as it brings up old feelings regarding your most important attachment figures,” Crouter tells mbg. “Sometimes the breakup [itself] is not what is bothering someone—it’s the meaning behind the breakup and associated early memories that beg to be addressed.” In this case, Crouter suggests therapy as an effective way to explore one’s patterns of relating to significant others and how they connect to our earliest relationships and experiences. In addition to addressing the specific reason you’re stuck missing your ex, there are concrete methods that you can begin implementing in your routine such as setting boundaries on social media, beginning a daily meditation practice, or processing through your feelings via journaling. Counseling or therapy can also be really helpful, especially if you feel like being unable to move on from your ex is affecting the rest of your daily living. All of these solutions can help provide you with the clarity you need to mollify the prolonged anxiety of your breakup and thus allow you to fall in love again after a breakup.
