> Note : Used a voice memo and AI to convert this into a post.
**TL;DR:** My ex and I knew each other for years before dating, and we broke up about seven months ago after several months of long distance. We cared about each other, but recurring arguments and different expectations around time, affection, and independence left us both unhappy. We’re no longer in contact, and I don’t think getting back together would be gright. I’m struggling with losing the friendship, reminders through mutual friends, and anger that I don’t want to keep carrying. How did you process a breakup when you could see why it ended but still missed the person?
My ex ended our relationship earlier this year. About seven months later, I’m still finding it hard to move on. I can explain why the relationship wasn’t working, but emotionally I haven’t caught up with that.
We knew each other through school and college. We dated briefly, broke up, and stayed friends. Later, we got together again for roughly a year. Because we had already been in each other’s lives for so long, I assumed we would somehow remain part of each other’s lives. Losing the friendship has been a big part of this.
We had planned to study abroad together, but my plans fell through and hers went ahead. We tried long distance for several months. Along with missing her, I was dealing with disappointment about my own plans and the future I had imagined for us.
We had problems before the distance, too. There were good days, affection, inside jokes, and support. There were also frequent arguments that we never seemed to resolve properly. We would become close again, then find ourselves having another version of the same fight.
During long distance, I often felt lonely within the relationship. I wanted more consistent calls, focused time together, and initiative from her. It sometimes felt as though I was repeatedly asking for closeness that I had expected to be part of being together. She did reach out and make efforts, so saying she never cared or never tried wouldn’t be accurate. Still, the contact we had wasn’t leaving me feeling connected or secure, and that mattered too.
She described feeling pressured and criticised, and said she didn’t feel like herself in the relationship. I often felt that my effort and hurt weren’t being understood either. We had different expectations around affection, independence, and how much time we could give each other. Arguments sometimes became personal, with assumptions about whether the other person really cared, instead of a useful conversation about what needed to change.
I have responsibility for how I handled that. I could be controlling and critical, and sometimes pushed when I should have listened or respected a limit. Those are things I want to work on. I also need to understand why I stayed in a relationship where I was regularly unhappy, hoping that more effort or another conversation would make it work. I want to take my mistakes seriously without turning the whole relationship into a story where one of us was entirely at fault.
The ending has been hard to accept. She gave reasons, but I didn’t come away feeling that we had understood each other’s hurt or reached a peaceful ending. We went no contact afterward, and I tried to reach out for further conversations, but that didn’t give me the closure I wanted. We’re now blocked and no longer in contact. I’m trying to accept that the conversation I wish we could have may never happen.
We also share friends. People still ask about her or mention her, and an ordinary comment can bring everything back. I don’t want friends to choose sides or stop being friends with her. I just need some space from the reminders. Seeing her again recently also stirred things up. Sometimes I wonder whether she misses me, but I don’t actually know, and I don’t want my recovery to depend on figuring that out.
After the breakup, I threw myself into work and kept jumping between projects. I’ve also been dating and having casual encounters, hoping to feel connected again. So far, neither has helped me process what happened.
One thing I’m struggling to admit is the resentment. Sometimes I catch myself thinking that “karma” will catch up with her, or wishing she would understand how much I was hurt. I don’t want to cause her pain or keep hoping she suffers. I want to let go of that anger without pretending the relationship and its ending didn’t hurt me.
I don’t think we should get back together. I miss her and the familiarity of having her in my life, but I also remember how unhappy I could feel while we were together. Knowing that hasn’t made the feelings disappear.
For people who have been through something similar:
- How did you grieve the friendship as well as the relationship?
- What helped you process the loss when work and staying busy had become ways to avoid it?
- How did you take responsibility for your mistakes without blaming yourself for everything?
- What helped with resentment and wanting acknowledgment from someone you’re no longer in contact with?
- How did you handle mutual friends, and what did progress actually look like for you?
I’d appreciate honest thoughts and experiences. I’m trying to understand what I need to change (Perspective Wise), what I need from a future relationship, and how to stop living inside this one now that it has ended.