Well, you might be heart broken and feel really down. However, you can still enjoy the holiday season this year. Don’t let the break up ruin your Christmas and new year.
Last year I wrote the post Christmas Break up: How To Survive Being Dumped During The Christmas Holidays, but thought of adding a bit more to it.

1. Focus your energy on family and friends.
Don’t stay at home thinking about your ex all day. Find out what your friends are doing for Christmas and try to help out in any way you can. Or perhaps you are going to visit your family this year, get involved with various activities so that you can get your mind off your ex.

2. Be will to say “I don’t want to talk about it”
There will be many people who’d want the latest scoop about the break up during family gathers, friends parties etc. People love to gossip especially during the holidays where many people come together. If you are not comfortable talking about it just be straight and say it. Say that you are going through a difficult time and hope the other person can respect that.

3. Give yourself a gift
While you buy many gifts for others during the holiday, want is it that you want? Anything nice and affordable that you’ve been meaning to get for a while? Or many you visit a spar, massage etc just pamper yourself.

4. “It’s ok to go alone”
When your single all at once it can be difficult to walk into parties and various dinners alone. You are so used to going with your ex. Get a friend to tag along or take a family member if you can. Gradually you will get used to this but it will take some time.

While these tips were specific to getting over a break up during the holidays, I’ve written more articles which you might find useful.

• How To Forget Your Ex When EVERYTHING Around Reminds You Of Your Ex
• Ways To Cope With Loneliness After Being Dumped
• Breakup Pain: What To Do When You Can’t Stop Feeling Sad And Hurt

Side Note: I am taking a break on break up advice today and writing post which is a rambling about me. I thought it might be a good way to end this year!

A few years ago I was in love with someone, who not only broke my heart, but also broke my essence! It took everything in me, even just to have a shred of thought of getting over him. I never thought I’d see the day, but eventually, I did move on after getting dumped. While I am all “patched up” and happy that I have gotten to this stage in my life (where I don’t at all think about him in any way!), the experience I had has left several scars in me. Sadly, I think it affects my current moment, as well as the future!

Wasted precious years of my life!

This is one of the things I regret most about my life. I just turned 30 this month, and looking back I feel I wasted years of my life wallowing on someone who did not want me! At the time, I was naive to realize that I shouldn’t cry over someone who won’t cry over me. But then, better late than never huh?

Lack of Self Confidence

For a long time after being dumped, I kept asking myself, “why wasn’t I good enough for him”, why couldn’t I make him happy etc. Later, I realized that I should not tie up my sense of self with another person’s estimate of my physical attractiveness. But this is easier said than done. Even now, when I find myself faced with rejection by a casual date, I can’t help but wonder…

Issues trusting people

My ex usually said one thing, meant another and did something entirely different. I was blinded by love to see what was happening. So I still have issues trusting people; knowing whether “this is actually what it is”. Does that make sense?

Lost hope of “happily ever after”

I was a girl that was waiting for Prince Charming to come in and sweep me off my feet. I thought it happened and I was holding on to that dream without letting go. Being dumped taught me to think more rationally. I remind myself that when it comes to matters of the heart, not to rely on the idea that happily ever after exists. I don’t know whether this is good or bad, or whether I am being overly negative due to the things that I have gone through.

Looking for someone who is very “similar” to my ex

Yes, I am single. But it’s not because I don’t want to be in a relationship. I tried to throw myself back out into the dating pool. However, I find myself comparing the men I would date to my ex. There were some qualities in my ex that I liked; it is probably for those reasons that I fell in love with him in the first place! Having had “that” once, I don’t want to “settle for less”.

Have become “feelingless”

I get the feeling that I am unconsciously avoiding being in a relationship, mainly because I felt like SH** when he dumped me , I don’t want to go through that again. I know I am being pessimistic here and not every relationship is doomed. But nevertheless, I tend to not want to care for someone as much as I did before. Does that make me “feelingless” ?

At the moment, I don’t know how I plan to sort these issues out. I will do some reading on these topics, try to apply them to my life, wise-up and promise to post what I learn in Dumped Days. Stay tuned!

Related Posts

• 38 Ways To Keep Busy After A Break Up
• Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End
• Resist The Urge To Call Your Ex : 6 Effective Ways To Help You Stay Off The Phone!
• It’s Called A Breakup Because It’s Broken (Book Review)
• Getting Dumped: 6 Break Up Lines I am Tired Of Hearing

Let us leave behind what we don't need to carry

A good year with dreams fulfilled?
The year, I met the love of my life?
A year I made the worst mistake of my life?
A year where every relationship turned sour?
A year that has gone by too quickly?

I’m sure most of you would agree with the last one at least!

Ok. So what about me? Well, I survived! I broke up with my better half in 2008, and this year was more of a “stabilization” stage for me. If you have gone through a nasty break up, you know how long the sting of a broken heart lasts; it has its way of ruining your future, even if your ex is not in it!

While, the relationship itself has not left any dangerous scars… it has certainly left me second guessing myself, and not letting even the nicest of guys, “in” to my life. I guess I am scared of being burned again. So, this year for me has been a year of fear….. of getting into a new relationship; a fear that things might end in the same fashion, as it did before.. with me heartbroken!

I look at my friends, family and their successful/fulfilling relationship, and wonder why an intelligent, young, funny, and sexy girl like me can’t seem to find that. Sometimes, it gets me teary eyed, it’s depressing!

But I know, that the first step to a successful and fulfilling relationship, is that I need to give a chance to someone. And that seems to be the problem! How can I trust someone with my heart again, when it was shredded into pieces not so long ago by someone I took a chance on; someone I truly cared for?

True, if I consider all the things that might go wrong in a relationship, I might never end up being in one! and that’s what I am trying to deal with in the coming year. I have began to understand (and engrave in my head!) that all misery is the result of either living in the past or worrying about the future. By worrying about the future, I am ruining a perfectly good present.

So, stay tuned to DumpedDays in 2010, where I WILL make an effort to give a special someone a chance… and hopefully, he will handle my heart with care!
Finally, this goes out to anyone who’s relationship has turned sour during the year; to anyone who’s finding it difficult to move on…. Remember..

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End

One door closes behind; another opens ahead. Let us leave behind what we don’t need to carry. How you spend the rest of your life is up to you.

Getting Over You Getting Over Me

He’s the first thing I think about every day….. How is he? Does he miss me, like I miss him? How do I get him back? … And another day without him begins.

There’s no denying it; Getting over a break up can be one of the most difficult, heart-wrenching things you’ll ever have to do. You can cry, eat a pound of ice cream and write angry letters to your ex in your online journal, but eventually you have to face reality.

Getting Over You: My Story

Once upon a time (about one year ago) the guy I was madly in love with ended our relationship. (I prefer to say that instead of “he dumped me, abruptly”!) There wasn’t a lot of warning signs on my end. He’d been a bit aloof in the weeks prior, but he brushed it off as “too much work”. I was led to believe that it was work-related stress and accepted that with blind faith.

The few months that followed were miserable. We continued to talk. I was convinced the break up was a big mistake and that he will eventually come to his senses and we will get back together. I was completely absorbed with “what did I do wrong?” “What did I miss?” He had been an amazing boyfriend, that it was very hard for me to consider anything he had done wrong (except dumping me of course!).

Getting Over Me: The Bitter Side

We continued to be “just friends”. A couple months after we broke up, I still went to certain gatherings with him, celebrated his birthday with him, I gave him thoughtful Christmas gifts… etc. I was miserable, but he dangled hope in front of me!

Then in January, I found out that he started seeing someone else. Later, I heard that he had spent Christmas with her family. That’s when I went from miserable to totally devastate.

Getting Over You, Getting Over Me: Lessons learned

Perhaps, that was the whack on the head I needed to move on; let go. That was the moment I realized, there was no point hoping of a future with him. I felt really stupid & ashamed for the way I was pining after him.

1. One of the things that keep most people from moving on (& getting over a break up!) is, holding on to false hope. Some are stuck in limbo with the idea that there might be a chance of getting back together with their ex’s.

2. If you were the one that was being dumped (aka, your partner who called things off! ), often the onus of reuniting lies on them. If you go chasing after someone who is not willing to take you back, not only will you aggravate your relationship with them, you will also damage your self esteem.

3. Being “Just Friends” doesn’t always work. Ok so you tell this person you just want to be friends now. That is probably not a good idea. You will have to deal with hearing about them moving on and seeing other people, which leads to my next point!

4.Jealousy is self destructive. Seeing the one you were with, in the arms of someone else.. gosh it’s damn annoying and frustrating! Jealousy often leads you to do very stupid things, which you might regret later!

Finally, the most important one… getting over a broken heart is a long-term process. You will need to work through your feelings, reach out to others, and focus on yourself. Give yourself permission to experience your feelings as they occur.