You Think You Want Your Ex Back?

Your significant other just ended your relationship. A natural reaction to this experience is to do everything in your power to undo the damage. You think you want your ex back. Think again. Tread carefully.

Here are five reasons you may not want your ex back.*

Reason #1. You are surprised, angry, sad, hurt and feeling rejected. These symptoms are classical grief symptoms. If your boyfriend had died, it would be impossible to get him back, and it would not be his fault that you are grieving. But now that he is out there alive and well, it is his fault. It is a decision he has made. He made it for a good reason. Your relationship was not working. Why would you want your relationship back if it wasn't working? Why would you want an ex back who doesn't want you? Treat it like a case of grief that you need to get over rather than trying to get back together with your ex.

Reason #2. If you were to implement all the tricks and tactics available on the internet for getting your ex back, and you succeeded against all odds, you would be going back to something that didn't work—at least not for him and most likely not for you either. You would end up being a doormat. Or a nervous wrack walking on eggshells.

Granted, you miss his kisses, his good morning text messages, the wining and dining. But what part of it do you really miss? What you really miss could be the kisses, the "good morning" text messages, and the wining and dining. It may not be him. It may seem that way. But once you clear your head, you may realize that you miss the events, not him in particular.

Reason #3. You may still be in shock and denial about your past relationship but once you clear your head, you can probably list a good number of really bad things that happened in your relationship, ranging from arguments to the silent treatment or worse. When we are broken up with, we tend to focus on the breezy early good memories from when we were head-over-heals in love. But that is unlikely to be the state of your relationship towards the end of it.

Do you really want your relationship back as it was toward the end of it? Probably not. You want the beginning. But the thing is, the beginning cannot reoccur. It only occurs when your hormones and neurotransmitters are completely out of wrack, and you are crazy madly in love because everything is new. Things cannot be new now, not now. Maybe in six months or two years, but not now.

Reason #4. If you really managed to get back together right now, do you think your relationship would last? It is very unlikely. Neither of you would have changed your behaviors and bad habits. You will just repeat past mistakes. You might be able to force yourself to behave differently for a few weeks but then when things settle down, you go back to your old habits. Then you break up and you will then need to start the grieving process all over.

Reason #5. Maybe you read on the internet that you just need some time apart. The negative emotions need to die down. Your ex is angry, and once he stops being angry, he will realize what a mistake he has made. In the meantime, you can improve and become a much better version of yourself. Right?

Wrong. No 30, 60 or 90 days of no contact or space can heal a broken relationship. Granted, it can make anger dissipate and make people nostalgic. But it cannot fix deep problems in relationships. Most likely the two of you are simply incompatible right now. It will take a lot of experience interacting with other people before you can possibly embark on a new and healthier relationship with your ex. But when that time comes, you may not want your ex-partner back anymore.

*Note: For ease of comprehension, I have focused on a man breaking up with a woman, but what I have said here generalizes to women breaking up with men, women breaking up with women, men breaking up with men, and so on.