We’ve all been there. At least, we all had one rendition of this experience. It’s not something that we wish to experience more than once and it sure as hell doesn’t get any easier. Chances are is we’ll bounce from one stage to another, particularly between the first three phases.

Here’s a list of 5 different phases of a breakup that we’re bound to experience at some point during the breakup:

Phase 1: “I Miss Him So Much”

This is the stage where start to miss him. A lot. Everything reminds you of him. You reminisce about the great times you had together and you start to worry that you made a mistake. But trust me, you wouldn’t be broken up if your relationship wasn’t already broken on some level.

Symptoms:
Hiding under blankets, listening to various sad songs, crying, missing, and feelings of not being able to move on, uncontrollable urges to call or text him.

Medication:
Ice cream, candy bars, sweatpants and vodka. Lots of vodka.

Phase 2: The “My Ex Sucks”

This is the part where you get angry. You tell your friends stories about how much a jerk your ex was or how much they failed as a partner. You may start breaking things. And guess what? That’s okay! Get angry. Yell. Scream. Cry. Do whatever you need to do to move that energy out of your body. Maybe your ex does suck! Tell your girlfriends and be sure they remind you often!

Symptoms:
Bad mouthing your ex to your friends, updating passive aggressive statuses on Facebook, hating all men.

Medication:
Girls night, smashing plates, girls night, wine, girls night.

Phase 3: The Social Media Stalking

Your new full-time job? Internet stalking your ex. You check his Facebook constantly, flip through his pictures on Instagram, and you refresh Twitter to see if he has any new tweets. You wonder to yourself, “Who is this chick he’s taking a picture with? Damn it, she’s pretty.” “Why did he completely delete his relationship status!?” “Is that status about me?” Do yourself a favor. Stop it. Now! No amount of stalking will bring him back.

Symptoms:
Constantly on ex’s social media platforms, attempts to hack into his e-mail, Googling and Facebook stalking girls tagged in his pictures.

Medication:
Block him on all social medias, throw away your phone, go on a vacation. Check out my tips on what to do instead of contacting your ex!

Phase 4: The Win Back

You daydream about the different ways of getting back together. Maybe you imagine him making a romantic, grand gesture for the whole world to see. So you start working out, bought a new wardrobe, and try to find excuses to run into him at his favorite coffee shop imagining that he can see what he missed out on and maybe it’ll spark something in him to get back together. But you should ask yourself, “Should I get back together with your ex?”
I’ll save you some time and energy. It doesn’t work that way. Actually, it rarely ever works that way. The best thing for you to do is to take care of yourself. The sooner you accept that the relationship is over and that he’s not worth your time anymore, the sooner you can get back to creating a life you deserve.

Symptoms:
Excessive daydreaming, “accidentally” running into your ex, scheming up ways to get back together with your ex.

Medication:
Stay far away from his travel routes, work, gym, school, etc., meet new friends, and focus on your life. Scheme up ways to make your life more awesome without him!

Phase 5: The “WTF Was I thinking, I’m Moving On!”

Congrats!! You came out the other end of the breakup, stronger and smarter! You realized that the end of the relationship is not the end of the world. You found healthier ways to spend your time, such of exercise and immersing yourself into work or studies. You start spending time with people worthwhile and who care about you. You’ll look back and laugh about the little setbacks you had. Maybe there was a drunk text or call in there somewhere.
But now, hopefully, you learned to forgive your ex and wish him the best in life. Most importantly, you learned to forgive yourself and to take away any learning experiences and move that forward to your next chapter.

Symptoms:
Living and loving your life, feelings of happiness and acceptance, knowing that you’re moving on

Medication:
Spend time with supportive people, do things that make you happy, engage in quality time with yourself, try new hobbies, and meet new people.