I’ve just (yesterday) ended my relationship of 5 years. Things had been really bad for a few months and before then there were many times when I thought “I should have ended this years ago” or “this isn’t right”, but I always cycled back round to feeling glad we were together and I knew I wouldn’t end it. Nothing was ever ‘enough’ to end it.
Now it’s done, I feel mostly ok. I’ve spoken to him on the phone and cried, which I’m glad about because if I felt nothing I’d think I was weird. I haven’t moved back to my parents’ yet which is what I need to do, and I haven’t packed any of my stuff, and we also did the break up over the phone (not my choice) so although the past week or so was filled with difficult conversations in person and tears, the final blow felt kind of… removed. I’ll have to say goodbye to our pets when I go. Maybe when these things happen and I start to pack up my life, it’ll hit me.
But mostly I feel ok. I feel that there’s a whole world out there now that I can access whereas there just wasn’t before. We had a wonderful few years in our relationship with so many happy memories and it was really the right thing for me for a while. It taught me a lot and I had amazing experiences with him. And now it’s time to close that chapter and move on.
How did you feel after breaking up with a long term partner? How did you know it was or wasn’t the right decision?