What is the best way to get over someone you were in a relationship with?

For me, acknowledging and expressing grief is an important 1st step, and then staying busy and seeing people with whom I'm close. I think it is a mistake to hop right into a different relationship. I gave myself 2 years before even dating again, and I'm glad I did. We are so vulnerable after a break-up and much more apt to make mistakes when immediately seeking another relationship. It is good to get to know yourself as you really are again, without a partner before trying to build a life with one! Karen

As a therapist, I have seen many clients who have felt devastated because their partners have finished with them and left. I have experienced this myself too and must say that there is no easy way to get over it and if you try to reject the feelings you can repress them and cause stress within the mind. I would say that there is a time for grieving and a time to get back out there and meet people again. Each of us will know when this time is right because we can only know what is inside our own minds. No therapist or advisor can ever know exactly how we feel. When we get back out with people, there is a stronger chance that we will meet someone else. Then we have to decide whether to take a risk with this new person or not. But all relationships carry such risk. We cannot know how we are going to be feeling 12 months down the road, let alone know how the other person is going to be feeling about us. - Derek