10 Handy Tips for Letting Go of a Relationship

“If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours; if they don’t they never were” ~ Richard Bach

If you’ve ever been in a relationship, chances are you’ve also experienced a breakup. No matter the reason, letting go of a relationship is tough. You’ve invested time, energy, and emotions into another person, and it can seem like you’ve wasted your time or made a mistake. It’s one thing to say that if you love someone let them go and if they come back, they’re yours but if they don’t then healing from that can be difficult.

Letting go of a relationship can be really painful. Losing anything you love hurts, and a partner is no exception. You might feel a little lost, lonely, and afraid of trying to love again.

But, the pain of a breakup doesn’t need to last forever, and you can absolutely get back out there and find love again even if that doesn’t feel true right now.

A lot of the prolonged pain we feel following a breakup is driven by 2 things:

• the way we’re thinking, and 
• the amount of time we spend going down memory lane.

Although the memories and thoughts will always be with you, the way you view them can change. Letting go of a relationship is something you can do!

So, now you’re probably wondering how to let go and how to move on or wishing that you knew how to stop loving someone so you can feel better.

Here are ten ways to help you learn how to get over someone you love and move on with your life.

1. Allow yourself to grieve the loss

This may seem counterintuitive, but trying to avoid feeling the emotions that come with a painful breakup can actually have the opposite effect and deepen and extend the pain.

Instead of distracting yourself from your feelings or thoughts about the breakup, allow yourself to sit with them.

We have emotions for a reason, even if they’re painful to experience sometimes. Journal about them, cry it out, talk to a friend.

So, if you want to express the emotion, do it so that you can move on.

2. Fight the urge to withdraw or stay in bed

Being sad and upset is OK, but after a while, start showing up for yourself and your life.

You can be sad and still go to work, and you can be in pain and still choose to find fun and joy in your activities.

The more aspects of your individual life that you show up to, the faster you’ll build new habits that support letting go of a relationship and moving on.

3. Stop looking for answers

It feels so important after a breakup to analyze and understand why the relationship didn’t work.

Even if you’ve been given a simple answer from our partner like “I’m not in love,” you will still replay the relationship over and over again, looking for more answers while getting over someone you loved.

Your brain is addicted to this cycle and thinks your breakup is a problem to solve. But it isn’t! Part of letting go of a relationship is knowing there isn’t an answer or solution that will satiate the pain.

4. Break up with your ex, completely

Stop texting them, stalking them on social media, or looking through your phone at old photos and messages.

Every time you do one of these activities, you’re resetting the clock and making the process of letting go of someone you love and moving on even tougher. Break up with everything having to do with your ex! Delete the messages and photos, block them on social media so you can’t see them, and remove them from your phone. This may seem excessive, but it helps you move on faster.

5. Accept that it’s over

This is both the hardest and most rewarding part of letting go of a relationship. You two are over.

Of course, it’s painful to read that. But it’s true.

The more often you can remind yourself of this fact, the easier it will be to hear and accept.

6. Challenge the stories you’re telling yourself

“I’m not lovable” “I’ll be single forever.” Do you find yourself telling yourself these kinds of stories when you love someone but can’t be with them?

Well, they aren’t real!

Just because things didn’t work out here, doesn’t mean you are doomed forever. There are almost 7 billion people on the planet!

And, perhaps there is a great partner out there looking for you right now.

7. Practice gratitude

Sometimes letting go of a relationship means being grateful for the time you did have together and what that relationship gave you.

Maybe you found a love of travel during that relationship, and maybe your ex introduced you to a new hobby that you can’t imagine living without now.

Being grateful for how you grew during that time can help ease the pain.

8. Balance your memories

Psychologist Guy Winch encourages balancing your happy memories of your ex with the bad ones.

He tells his patients to “compile an exhaustive list of all the ways the person was wrong for you, all the bad qualities, all the pet peeves, and then keep it on your phone.”

When you start to slip into nostalgia or idealize your ex-partner, bust out the list and read it!

It will help remind you that things weren’t always roses and romance and that your ex wasn’t perfect.

Watch this video of Guy Winch on how to fix a broken heart:

9. Fill your time with other things you love

We are so much more than our relationships. We have hobbies, careers, friends, pets, passions, and all kinds of other things that make us who we are.

Your life doesn’t need to be on hold because your love life is temporarily paused.

Fill the time you would spend with your partner with other things your heart loves. Part of letting go of a relationship is letting love back in your life, in whatever form works for you!

Take an extra yoga class a week, call your mom more often, or take the dog to the beach.

In a review of multiple studies, it was found that even a little activity can have a significant impact on the happiness levels of a person. So get those happy hormones into action!

If you want to move on, you have to do just that. Keep moving and eventually move on.

10. Be patient with yourself

Above all else, self-compassion is key to letting go of a relationship and moving on.

Some days you’ll feel amazing and like you never cared at all, and other days might be tougher. But, letting go and moving on is possible, and you will be able to do it!

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Rachael Pace Author

Rachael Pace is a noted relationship writer associated with Marriage.com. She provides inspiration, support, and empowerment in the form of motivational articles and essays. Rachael enjoys studying the evolution of loving partnerships... Read more and is passionate about writing on them. She believes that everyone should make room for love in their lives and encourages couples to work on overcoming their challenges together. Read less

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