I’ve got a text from my ex! What should I do?

Picture this, you’ve finally got yourself to a place where your ex is no longer a permanent fixture in your mind, you can walk down a street without being reminded of the dates they used to take you on, or their favourite shops to visit and then PING. One new notification – the dreaded text from your ex. There could be many versions of the same message, “Hey”, “I miss you” or “I want you back”, it all means the same in your mind. But when it comes down to it, you still feel that pit in your stomach.

“Shall I message them back?” 

“Do they miss me?”

“Do I play it cool or tell them I miss them?”

You play it over in your mind, wondering how to respond to that message. Well, let’s go over some tips on how to handle the dreaded text from your ex. 

Breathe

The first thing to do is to simply take a breath. Don’t freak out or immediately message back. It’s most likely going to catch you off guard, so let’s take time to think. Think about the fact that many people have gone through similar situations, where an ex has come crawling back the moment you get over them, it’s almost like they’re mind readers. 

Share with friends

There’s no-one in the world that’ll humbles you more than your best friend who dislikes your ex for breaking your heart. Trust me, they’ll take everything they’ve got to convince you that your ex is not worth your time again. 

Miss them

The key here is allowing yourself to miss them, recall the good memories but leave it there. Give yourself an hour to sit and look back at pictures (if you still have them), think about some of your favourite memories together and then put down your phone. But do not, I repeat, DO NOT respond based on a few good memories from the past, which leads us on to our next point. 

The past is a place to learn from, not to live in. 

Most of the time, breakups happen because you fall out of love, or you have a sudden epiphany of what you really want, or the worst situation, there’s been some sort of betrayal. The breakup forces you to adjust to a new normal without them in your life, and you make the right changes and you’ve started moving forward and then this sneaky text shuffles it all up. But don’t be fooled by the good memories and sincere text messages, the past should be left behind, along with your ex.

Move on

We’re not saying you must ignore your ex. You may well have ended things civilly, as “friends”, so a catch up may be exactly what you need to finally close the door on that chapter of your life. What we’re stressing is the importance of not being swept up in all the excitement and happiness you felt at the start of the relationship and letting that fool you into revisiting the past. Most of the time things haven’t changed and the same issues will arise time and time again. So do yourself a favour and give the future a chance, you don’t know who could be waiting for you there.

Instead of responding to your ex, head over to Plentymorefish to see who may be waiting for you in your future 😉