It won’t be easy. That’s the first thing you should know. Depending on your situation, it might be one of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do. But of all things it is, it will be worth it. I promise you, it will be worth it.
For a while, you try to get him back. You’ll message him and try to get together, you’ll post pictures of you having fun with other people to make him jealous, you’ll curl your hair and put on your best outfit to go to your class that’s in the same building as his, just in case you might see him across the hall.
He won’t respond to any of this, and you will start to lose hope. Or maybe it will make you try harder. That is, until you see the first sign of her. The new girl. The one on his Snapchat story. Who is she? It’s Friday, he’s supposed to be at work. He never took off work to hang out with you. You’ll get jealous. You’ll get angry. You’ll muster up the courage to delete him off Snapchat, just so you never have to see pictures of her again. And you’ll never feel the urge to send him a funny video, just to have it be left on opened.
You’ll begin to see him everywhere you go. You see him in the cashier at the dining hall. You’ll see him in every frat boy, wearing his letters or not. You’ll see him in every guy wearing a backwards baseball cap. It’s never him, though. Until the one time that it is, and your heart leaps into your throat as you quickly put your phone to your ear and pretend to be having a really important conversation until he passes by you. He didn’t even see you. You’ll sigh in relief, but also feel the slight twinge of despair as secretly you hoped he would have noticed you.
You’ll start to talk to other people, you make new friends, you meet new boys. You wish he could see how happy you are with people that aren’t him. Some days, you’ll be so wrapped up in yourself that you won’t even think of him. That’s good. That means it’s working.
Then one day he’ll text you out of the blue. Your hopes shoot through the sky. You’ll recruit your friends to help you respond in the perfect way with the perfect words in the perfect amount of time. Suddenly, he’s back in your thoughts and in your phone and in the cashier at the dining hall. This is a step backward. But it’s not your fault, it’s his for coming back into your life without a good reason.
Then one morning, you’ll wake up and see a picture of him kissing another girl on social media. You immediately unfollow him so you never have to see it again. But there it is. A diamond in the rough. Closure. No more unanswered questions, no more false hope, no more wondering. It’s over, and you know it. You get ready to go out to an event that you know he’ll be at, but don’t get dressed up for him, but for yourself. He no longer has that power over you.
Finally, you’ll delete the last piece of him you have. His number. You’ll never feel the urge to reach out to him again. It’s over. You’re better off for it. It’s worth it.
And that is how you move on.