Two people with mutual interests meet and friendship begins. Their friendship becomes more intimate and romance blossoms. Being friends and romantic partners at the same time can be satisfying, but due to some reason breakup occurs. Often, the pain doubles when you realize that a great friendship has also ended along with the romance. Any why not, the person knew you better than any other during the time you were together. Both of you have shared some important life events between the two of you.
How To Remain Friends Following A Breakup
- Be sure whether you want to end the relationship or not. Couples always make a mistake by saying that they want to be friends when what they really want is to get back to each other. If getting back to each other is your option, see if the other person also feels the same. If not, it is better to carry forward your relationship by being friends.
- The most difficult thing after a breakup is giving each other time and space. But, this is absolutely necessary if you want to be friends down the line. Take time to emotionally adjust from being a couple to being friends.
- Fill the time that used to be spent with your partner by hanging out with friends, taking trips to meet family members, join new clubs and social groups. This will help you indulge yourself in activities shared with other people.
- Once you’ve scheduled activities with friends and family, embrace the time you now have, alone. Explore a new place or you can take up a new class. Often you would want to call your ex but do not do that and use your willpower to focus on doing good things when alone.
- Breakups are devastating but that should not limit your expectations of something good happening in future. Figure out what went wrong in the relationship and do not blame your ex. Do some emotional work to understand what you want from a relationship and what you should change to get that.
- List down all the reasons you want to be friends with your ex. Address each problem in your mind and see if it truly makes sense to be friends. Question yourself what you want from a friend and whether that person is capable of giving it to you or not.
- Make plans to contact your ex and discuss resuming your friendship. Schedule up a date with a friend or a family member after the meeting so that you do not have to be alone if the meeting does not turn out positive.
- Clearly express your desire to be friends and what it would mean to you.
- Be patient and calm while listening to your ex’s responses. Figure out if you want to be really friends or there is still something more between the two of you.
- In case you have decided to remain friends, plan out dates to hang out in the future. Remember to maintain some space so that you do not fall into old relationship patterns.
- Be close to each other by sharing feelings. It is sure to bind up feelings especially when one of you starts getting serious about someone else. Take your own free time to get back in touch with each other so that your friendship can remain strong.
- Since good friends are there for each other, be there when your friend needs something once you’ve decided to be friends again.