Don't date unless you're absolutely sure you're meant to be with that person at that point in time. I spent a little too long with a boy that didn't deserve the time of day from me. Where did that get me? Heartbroken. Do you want to know why? We both prolonged the end when we knew it should have ended at least a year prior. Sure, I think I was meant to date him. It felt right at the time, but there came a point where ending it felt right as well. That's when I began to force the relationship to work.
Don't force it. If it is meant to work, then it will. So that boy that won't text you first or ask you to hang out? Leave him be. There is no reason to want to be with someone who doesn't want you.
Don't date too soon. I dated a boy briefly during my freshman year of college. I dated him too soon after a split from a serious relationship. It ended up causing more damage than originally intended. I thought that all the butterflies he was causing meant that I was over my previous love interest. It turns out, it was just because he was the first boy to give me any sense of hope after that breakup. He was a crush, but to him, I was much more than that. The situation I unknowingly put him in was unfair. Wait until you're healed before you try to love someone else.
Don't let a significant other define you. It is easy to get swept up in a new relationship and let it consume you. However, that is how you get stuck in a rut. The one where your friends start to wonder where you have been or if they'll get to see you without your significant other attached to your hip. Eventually, that starts to wear you and/or your significant other down. If you lose that relationship, then it leaves you wondering who you were before them and who you are currently.
Don't try to be friends with an ex if you aren't truly comfortable with it. It only hurts. No matter who broke up with who, it is an awkward transition going from lovers to friends. Someone will begin to date sooner than the other and it's not something anyone wants to hear about.
Don't forget why you broke up in the first place. There is nothing worse than going back to an ex because you have forgotten why they were an ex. You will remember once you're in a miserable relationship with them again. On the other hand, sometimes you can make a come back as a couple from a break up and it turn out fine. Usually, that is not the case. It is hard to mend something that is broken.
Don't continue to follow them on social media. You know how much good that does? None. Absolutely none. Seeing their posts and liking their things to get under their skin sounds appealing, but its not when it makes your own blood boil. Do what you've got to do to get them off your radar.
Lastly, don't write off all men for something one man has done. It is easy to lump all mankind into one box, but they really are all different. You may have had your share of jerks, but that doesn't mean they're all jerks. Give a guy a chance once in a while.
