Should You Actually Delete Photos With An Ex After The Breakup?

With Valentine's Day coming up, a lot of singles out there may start to have that feeling of dread. With all of the love in air, it can be tough if you aren't in a relationship at the moment. You may even be tempted to go back through old pictures with an ex. For a moment, you consider deleting them, so you'll stop going back and looking whenever you feel an ounce of loneliness.

Or, you could be going through a breakup right now. On one end of the spectrum, you may never want to see this person again. On the flip side, maybe you are holding out hope that this person will come back to you or you are hoping to be friends at some point. Either way, breakups are tough but trust me, you're tougher.

Whatever the case may be, you want to know what you should do about the pictures of your past staring back at you from your phone. Should you keep all of these pictures of you and your ex, or should you delete them? The answer is more complicated than you think.

Unless the relationship ended for insanely horrible or traumatic reasons, don't delete the pictures for good.

I know what you are thinking, "but, what if I just don't want to see their face anymore?" That is completely understandable. But, chances are, you won't feel that way forever.

Whether you like it or not, the relationship did have some good times. Those times are memories that did happen and you may want to look back on those one day. This is especially true if you were with the person for a long time. Those are years of memories that you might want to look back on one day down the line. The pain of the breakup won't last forever and negative feelings towards that person may fade, but deleting the pictures are permanent.

Thankfully, there are some options to not see their face but still keep the pictures. You could always crop the person out, and un-crop it later on when you feel ready. Or, take them off of your phone but have them saved in a file on your computer. Lastly, you could even have them printed and then deleted off of your phone.

So, think twice before giving in to the urge to destroy all traces of your ex out of your life for good. Although, at the end of the day, it is your decision, and you should do what you think is best to help you move on. Every relationship is unique, and so is the recovery process after the breakup.