You know how they say death and taxes are the only two certainties in life? Well I think there’s a third and it’s the break-up. Everyone deals with one at some point and, in a nutshell, it blows chunks. Whether you’re the dumper or the dumpee, it ain’t easy and sometimes, when you’re curled up in the fetal position with a puddle of melted ice cream next to your face, it feels as if the pain is never gonna go away.

But it does…
Eventually.

After countless sob sessions with friends, drunken “I’M SINGLE AND READY TO MINGLE” nights out that end in tears (and usually vomit), and probing anyone who will listen for healing advice, you wake up one day and realize you are OK. You’ve moved on. You can do better than that asshat who never appreciated what he had anyway, dammit.

You just gotta get to that point. And we are going to help you. Below, the CollegeCandy writers share their best advice for dealing with a break-up. Bookmark it, print it, tape it to your wall, because one day, when you’re sobbing to the tunes of The Fray while poring over lovey dovey pictures of you and your ex on Facebook, you’re going to need all the help you can get.

Sammie – Fordham: Cut him out completely.  Do not even have his number in your phone – GET RID OF THAT ISH.  You can be friends later, but right now there is no reason why you should contact him.  ESPECIALLY IN A TEXT THAT YOU SAY IS FOR SOMEONE ELSE THAT YOU SENT HIM “ACCIDENTALLY”!

Christie – NC State: BREAK UP WITH THEM AT THEIR PLACE. I can’t say this enough to my friends. Go to his place, because you can leave at any point you want to. If they are at your place, you might have to ask them to leave, which would be hurtful and awkward. Read More »

I’m not gonna lie, I’m in a funk today. After last night’s epic Glee finale, I just don’t know how to go on. I could barely get out of bed this morning and I’ve already eaten half a bag of Sun Chips (why is the new bag so loud?!) and a Twix bar. And on top of that, my best friend’s boyfriend of four years kicked her to the curb.

The kicker? I’m friends with him, too.

Spending the evening crying with her and trying to understand what the eff that boy was thinking and then spending this morning with him crying to me on the phone, I started thinking about breakups and how difficult they are for everyone involved. Sure, to many there’s nothing worse than getting dumped, but what about breaking someone else’s heart? That can’t be a walk in the park.

So I want to see what you have to say about all this:

Would you rather be the dumper or the dumpee? Read More »

This has been a rough month. On top of approaching midterms, stress over summer internship plans, and the most awful Political Science professor known to mankind (he legitimately looks like a cartoon character, has the intelligence of an action figure, and wears his cell phone around his neck on a rope…), it seems like half of my school has recently been broken up with. Yes, apparently Break Up Season has officially begun, and as a result four of my best girlfriends are in varying degrees of ending relationships!

Since we returned from winter break, I have been in red alert nurturing mode, making sure that chocolate, ice cream, and Sex in the City episodes are all abundant for the initial mourning process for my girls. My phone, which usually I can never even find, is on uber loud at all hours so I can be there for the melt-downs at all times. When the grieving stage has passed, I’ve been there to make sure that the random rebound hook-ups (inspired by one too many whiskey sours) don’t turn into even bigger mistakes. Read More »

One of the best first dates I’ve ever been on was to a sushi restaurant. I had never tried sushi before, and it ended up becoming one of my favorite foods. I ended up dating that boy for three years. And in those three years, our lives became increasingly intertwined. We were already in the same honors classes, we both played soccer, we both wrote for the school newspaper. We fit into each other’s lives so perfectly.

For three years, we got along perfectly. And then we broke up. It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. Some people eat after I break up, I couldn’t bring myself to eat. I was nauseous all the time. I lost almost thirty pounds. And sushi had never looked more repulsive.

For months after that, every time I saw sushi I thought of him. He was there every green car that drove by, every time I passed a soccer field of boys practicing. I had never been even the slightest bit phased by a break up before, so I had no idea why I was so upset. I felt so weak, so pathetic, for letting myself be so upset over a boy.

Time passed, and I gradually began getting better. It took little steps. I finally stopped crying. I didn’t have to see him anymore once school ended, and then I was able to stop thinking about him almost altogether. I started dating some other people casually, and soon I rarely thought of him. I could even eat order a California roll without a single painful memory. (Which instantly enhanced my life; I’d really missed those little guys.) Read More »

"He's got a new GF!?"

I have a pretty boring morning routine. I hear my alarm go off on my iPhone (“Pretty Young Thing” by MJ, if you must know) continue to hit snooze until I only give myself twenty minutes to get ready. Then the routine:

-          Stretch. Rub face seven times.
-          Tear out of bed when I realize that I’m already running thirty minutes late.
-          Get in shower. Shampoo. Condition. Etc.
-          Dry off, get dressed, brush teeth, make goofy faces at myself in the mirror.
-          Run upstairs, notice that I have an extra five minutes.
-          Check Facebook.

Yes, Facebook is usually a part of my morning routine. Sometimes even taking precedent over a nutritious breakfast. Sad, but true.

You log in and scroll through Newsfeed, which usually goes a little something like this: status updates from “kind-of” friends, photos posted from family vacations that you don’t care about, “top 5 favorite Miley Cyrus songs” (she even has 5 songs?), event notification for a band you’ve never heard of, “What’s my Ghetto Name,” more status updates, ex-boyfriend is no longer listed as single, status upd… WAIT WHAT?!

Scroll back up in a panic, hoping you misread. Nope. We have confirmation: That stupid little pink heart is practically jumping off the screen paired with your recent ex, boyfriend or crush’s name. Maybe you already knew they were in a relationship, maybe you had no idea, maybe they broke up with you via Facebook, maybe you went out on a few dates and you thought things were going places but now they are in a relationship with someone who is NOT you.

Whatever the case is, this relationship update is a slap in the face…book. Read More »

Ah, breaking up. America’s favorite pastime. Whether your relationship ended abruptly, amicably or was “complicated” or “well we’re not together, but we’re still together” for way too long (cough EIGHT MONTHS cough) before it ended on horrible terms (totally hypothetical situation – definitely didn’t happen to me this weekend) breaking up fully blows.

But what if you could get back everything you gave? Well, monetarily at least.

Thanks to OutOfYourLife.com, women suffering from breaking-off-the-engagement can send back their rings when the douchebag peaces out and get back some serious cashola. Is there any better way to get over a breakup than to get a giant check in the mail? I think not.

But what about for the rest of us gals who didn’t bag a diamond? I made a hypothetical projected return rate on what most college girls get out of their exes if they’d been dating them for six months.  Let me know if I forgot anything… Read More »

We are the Facebook generation.  With this glorious title comes many responsibilities (well, sort of): we must immediately inform our friends of any and all actions we take and decisions we make during our day.  This includes what TV show we’re watching, what we are eating, the status of our relationships and, subsequently, our break-ups.

Now that Facebook is in the picture, there is a whole new slew of issues we must face when dealing with a heartbreaking, make-you-wanna-sit-in-your-room-alone-crying-to-sappy-music breakups.

Before Facebook (BF): You break it off with your lover and tell everyone that you ended it, so you need your besties and Ben & Jerry’s, like, stat.
After Facebook (AF): You break it off with your lover and they change their relationship status first, making it look like it was their decision.  Which it was not. Ok, maybe it was, but did they have to change that so quickly? Now you’re getting 45 FB messages and wall posts asking if you are OK.

BF: You rip up all your pictures, cutting out your ex’s face and even burning the particularly painful ones.  Ah, satisfaction.
AF: You untag the 1,938 pictures of you guys as a couple.  It takes four hours and is in no way satisfying because there is a sad lack of sharp objects and fire. And the pictures are still fully intact.

BF: You carefully orchestrate a plan to “accidentally” be at the same social function as your ex, looking fabulous and with what looks like the next Calvin Klein underwear model.
AF: You post pictures from a bender with your besties, carefully editing out the embarrassing bits (oh, thousands) and making sure to post an appropriate, make-him-jealous Facebook status (“Sooo tired but had the best time EVER last night!! <3 Mike” Note: Mike is not your ex). Read More »

In this week’s In Touch magazine, a “friend” of John Mayer explains that the reason he is often so distant and, well, douchey, with his girlfriends is because he had his heart stomped on at 16. He was madly in love, something went wrong, and he promised never to have his heart broken again.

Awwww.

I bet that made you melt, right? I mean, it’s adorable and endearing that heartthrob John Mayer had his widdle heart bwoken! And it finally explains everything from Jessica Simpson to Jennifer Aniston and all those girls in between! It all makes sense. You are totes on Team Mayer now, aren’t ya?

Well not me. Read More »

We all know that women tend to be a little more emotional than men, but when it comes to break ups, shouldn’t everyone be a little hurt? Shouldn’t both parties be at least a little emotional?

Why then does it always seem like the guys are moving on so much faster? While we sit home and watch sad movies and listen to sad music as our friends force feed us, our guys are out at the bar with their friends picking up chicks and having a grand ole’ time.

How can they get over it so quickly? Are girls – even serious girlfriends – that disposable and easy to move on from? I asked one of my boys for the lowdown. His perspective may not make you feel better, but it does explain a lot. Read More »

I would have never dated me three or four years ago. Sure, I was lovely in most ways and I was a catch in most ways, but there was one little thing about dating that I just didn’t get: being friends after the breakup.

When my heart was broken before, I knew exactly how to manipulate the story to victimize myself and follow up with passionate vengeance. I never even gave a guy a fair chance to break up with me without it being ugly. And looking back on that, it makes me thoroughly sad.

These days, I understand relationships as more than ultimatums or pending doom and broken heartedness. Now I get it.

If I was that close to a guy before, close enough to let him be the only boy I would even kiss, he must have had something to contribute to the world and my life more than sex, right? Right. So why would I cut all of those positive things out of my life just because we made a decision to end the intimacy?

Upon realizing just how much I was giving up when I cut off all ties with my exes, I began changing my ways. I am now friends with all of my exes; yes, every last one. I have rebuilt the bridges I burned and, in fact, just hopped on a plane last month to go visit my most recent ex. As a FRIEND. And we had a great time!

When you are of the mentality that you can’t be friends with a dude after you break up, you are already hindering your relationship. You are already screwing up its natural course of growth and making aspects of the relationship ugly that don’t need to be. Damning your post-breakup relationship to Hell is not only immature, but it’s sad; if you liked a guy enough to date him, you should like him enough to be there for him when you’re done dating one another. Read More »