How to break-up with your girlfriend

Boy meets girl. Boy dates girl. Boy realizes she’s not the one, or someone else is the one, or no one will ever be the one, or whatever the reason, it has to end. Here are five tips on how to break up with your girlfriend. 

1. Try to minimize the heartache. There is no way around the fact that this is going to hurt the other person. It’s just like ripping off a bandage – if you rip it off all in one go, the pain will be over quickly, but if you do it slowly, it will hurt for longer. You can help minimize the heartbreak in a couple of ways:

• Don’t be distant. Even if you don’t really feel like it, offer hugs and other appropriate signs of affection if you ex looks like she needs it. Be reassuring, not selfish.
• Find the right time to break up. Obviously, there’s never a perfect time. But right before a celebration, test, or vacation is a bad time to do it. Give yourself enough time, and try to do it when she doesn’t have anything else significant going on afterward.

2. Be prepared for a range of emotions. When you finally break up, you have to be prepared for anything. It could be sadness, anger, or even a lack of emotion. It’s okay to feel any and all of these emotions during a breakup. If you feel like showing emotion, don’t hold back. If the emotion isn’t there, for whatever reason, don’t force it.

3. Give her a truthful explanation. It’s the least that she deserves. If you can’t come up with a legitimate reason for why you’re no longer interested in the relationship, try thinking it over; talk with a friend. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should be legitimate. You owe it to her. (Also read: How to ditch your boyfriend)

4. Be reassuring. If it’s appropriate, let her know why you think that she’ll make an excellent girlfriend for someone else sometime down the road. Talk about the aspects of her personality that attracted you to her in the beginning, and the traits of hers that stayed strong during the relationship. This way, she won’t feel as horrible; it could do something good for her confidence, which will probably be shaken by the breakup. 

5. Offer to talk with her at a later time if she has any questions. Unless you’ve decided that it’s absolutely the best to not talk after the breakup, give her the option of discussing things when the situation is a little more calm. This will give you both time to think, and may help her feel like she is also given a chance to get things off her chest.