When a relationship ends
Letting go of a relationship is painful.
- Complex emotions can be stirred up and your life feels like it is in a spin.
- You need to make sense of what has happened
- There may be unfinished business to resolve
- You experience strong feelings of loss and anxiety
- Need to gain the confidence to take risks again and feel positive about being in relationships
It can be an emotional roller coaster
For a lot of people, the ending of a relationship is an intense time.
Feeling rejected can bring up strong emotions of loss and grief. You may feel desperate to fix what went wrong, unable to sleep, feeling anxious and depressed. This can lead to obsessing about what you could have done to prevent it and difficulty accepting the decision. Sometimes when a relationship has been short-lived you can be left with strong emotions that are hard to understand. You may feel short-changed and that the relationship ended before it even began.
You may struggle with responsibility for ending the relationship
Perhaps you are dealing with guilt as the one who made the decision to end a relationship. It can be unbearable to see people you care about in distress. You may find yourself acting with anger and resentment because you want them to not feel upset with you. Or their grief may make it hard to be honest and direct about your feelings.
Going back and forth
Feeling ambivalent about the ending of a relationship is very common. It can feel unclear and confusing. Feelings of loss and anxiety can cause uncertainty about a decision to end the relationship. This may cause a cycle of splitting up and getting back together.
Counselling can provide a space to explore what has happened.
The ending of a relationship can be an opportunity to examine relationship patterns when:
- you find yourself in similar dynamics and experiences
- your grief and loss seems bigger than the loss of this relationship
- you keep selecting partners that do not meet your needs
- it is difficult to change unhealthy relationships