Would you consider this person an ex?

[diamonds653]

Years ago i had an intense situation with a guy. We met on holiday and hit it off, though only as friends at that point. When I got home we stayed in touch on social media and then began speaking for hours everyday.

Three months later I went back and we spent two weeks together. I believe we did love each other. I returned home and we continued to chat non stop all the time.

Unfortunately things went sour, as they would with distance. So we stopped contact. The whole thing lasted about 7 months but it ending was the biggest heartbreak I've ever felt, even though I should have known it was doomed.

Over the years I have dismissed it as a holiday romance as I don't feel there was enough time for him to qualify as an 'ex'. But calling it a holiday romance sounds flippant given the depth of feelings. Would you consider this situation and ex, or just a holiday romance?

What difference would that make to your life now?

Depends if you considered him your boyfriend - ie ex-boyfriend.
In these times it would probably be called a 'situationship'. Definitely more than a holiday fling tho!

I wouldn't consider it anything really, it happened, it's over, why does it need a label?

It's more than a holiday romance as you carried on with it after you came home.

Why do you need to know how strangers would categorise a past event in your life? Isn't it more significant how you consider it?

What difference would it make?

If many years later you're still thinking about it and feel the need to give it a name, then it wasn't just a holiday romance. I hope you'll find your peace with it OP.

If many years later you're still thinking about it and feel the need to give it a name, then it wasn't just a holiday romance

According to what rule? Many people still think and wonder about holiday romances years later.

Nope but it seems like people call everyone they sleep with an ex! I had a similar thing met a guy on holiday met up twice when we got back but it didn’t work out as he had a child and lived far away, he is not an ex. Sounds like you only met up once for 2 weeks and was never official so not an ex imo.

Not a relationship lol holiday fun it sounds like

It would have to be someone significant for me to think of them as an ex. Someone I'd actually had a real relationship with otherwise, they're just "this guy I dated/knew".

I've dated loads of men for anything between a few weeks to several months but I'd only consider that I have 2, possibly 3, exes.

In fact. Anything less that 6 months is "a guy I knew". Anything more than 6 months is a "guy I dated." Ex is a label reserved for significant relationships of 2 years or more. So both of the men I lived with and had a child with. So, yeah, I have 2 exes.

No rule at all, no right or wrong, just my opinion. Occasionally, I also think about past holiday romances, but I don't feel the need to define them in any other way than that.