r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 15h ago

Personal Growth Roughly four months post a brutal discard and I am leaving this sub

87 Upvotes

This sub was SO important for my healing and survival in the early stages of the wreckage of my DA ex brutally discarding me. She never apologised or took accountability, my pain was never validated, even when she admitted she had been cold to me post breakup. She just didn't see anything wrong with treating me coldly and abruptly cutting me off/abandoning me.

She vehemently denied that she was ever cruel (I could write an essay on how cruel she was during and after the discard), and she tried to tell me I was making up my PTSD diagnosis I've ended up with from everything she's done to me.

And despite it all, I'm healing and moving on. I don't need this sub dragging me back to dark places and memories all the time.

You CAN heal, you CAN move on. I'm not fully healed, but I'm at a place now where I'm filling my life with things that don't include obsessing over understanding her or her behaviour.

Bottom line is she is cruel and immature and trying to get her (and most avoidants) to see the damage they cause is like asking a blind person to describe colours. A useless waste of time and energy.

One day you too will be looking to fill your life with less avoidant-focused content and more of everything else life has to offer. I never thought I'd survive the agony of this experience but I did. I'm still depressed, I'm still working through the PTSD, but I'm genuinely moving on.

I hope this gives anyone in the dark and excruciating early days some hope <3


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 12h ago

Later Stage Healing - Your Own Inner Work Why They Ran When It Got Good (And Why It’s Not on You)

77 Upvotes

While navigating my own breakup, dissecting what really happened became my way of healing—and I wrote this to offer some clarity and comfort to anyone walking this same painful road.

If you’ve recently been blindsided by someone with fearful-avoidant tendencies, you’re probably sitting in shock. One moment you're building a genuine, meaningful connection, and the next, they pull away completely, create conflict out of nowhere, and walk away as if what you shared never existed.

Now you’re stuck replaying every conversation, wondering what you did wrong. Here is what you actually need to hear:

  1. Your consistency didn’t ruin things—it scared them.

When you show up with warmth, honesty, and emotional availability, a healthy person leans in. But to someone with deep-seated attachment fears, real closeness feels like losing control. You weren't "too much." You were simply offering authentic intimacy to a nervous system that associates vulnerability with danger.

  1. The blame was a defense mechanism.

When an avoidant partner pulls away, they rarely admit they are terrified of getting close. Instead, they rationalize their exit by picking fights, hyper-focusing on small flaws, or convincing themselves that the relationship is draining. Making you the problem in their head is their mind's easiest way to justify running without having to face their own unhealed wounds.

  1. Their exit is your closure.

Stop waiting for an honest conversation, a sudden breakthrough, or the mature apology you deserve. A partner who panics and runs simply doesn't have the emotional capacity to give you clear answers. The abrupt silence, the sudden wall of distance, and the refusal to engage aren't puzzles to solve—they are the clearest possible demonstration of their emotional limitations.

  1. Don't buy the facade.

Watching them act as if nothing happened, keep themselves constantly busy, or project a carefree life to the outside world hurts. But constant distraction isn't healing. Moving rapidly from one thing to the next is often just a way to keep the volume turned all the way up so they don't have to sit alone with the quiet.

Loving someone with an open heart was never your mistake. It just proved that you are capable of real, grounded connection.

Let go of the urge to decode their behavior, stop waiting for answers that won't come, and take your energy back.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 21h ago

Reaching out is a disaster

50 Upvotes

Got broken up with a DA partner a month ago with no closure. Today I reached out, got stonewalled and got even more worse. One of the stupidest shi- i have ever done. Please if You have the urge to reach out, DO NOT DO IT!! I REPEAT, DO NOT DO IT


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 10h ago

Giving hope to those going through a discard ❤️

35 Upvotes

1 year 9 months ago, I was dating an avoidant who then became the first guy I became intimate with. It was a big deal for me. Apparently not for him.

He then proceeded to treat me terribly and it was a constant push and pull dynamic where he would ghost me and distance himself and then lash out at me if I tried to get him to talk to me again.

He finally admitted that he doesn't believe I love him because he doesn't think anyone is capable of loving him. He then told me to leave him alone. He exhibited multiple signs of an avoidant.

That last conversation broke my heart and had me in tears. That was at the end of last year.

I then found this subreddit and I found it crazy how similar all our experiences were.. started talking to loads of people on here... but I was unable to move on.

Today.. almost 2 years later, I open reddit and see a post from this subreddit. I am proud to say, I have not thought about him in ages... I have moved on and have dated other men I was crazy about...

It will pass. I promise. You can do it. Time heals everything :) I am living proof of it. Just make sure you cut off contact and stay distracted.

I now look back and feel sad for him. But I don't feel the need to get back with him or even talk to him.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 12h ago

11 months later, I really don’t want to be here

30 Upvotes

Hey, unsure if there’s a point to this. It’s been 11 months since I woke up to a note and her leaving nine years of shared life dreams family and love behind and never looking back. She said we would talk, we never did, she gave me different reasons and why’s and none of em made sense, she left me in one of the hardest parts of my life, a couple of months later my best friend died, he was the only witness to my life and relationship with her, I no longer even have anyone to talk to about it.

I worked on myself for months now, I’ve improved my health, lost a lot of weight, improved my body, tried to move past this, but I can’t, I think about her everyday sometimes for hours, the smallest thing can come up that reminds me of her or makes me miss her and I completely breakdown, I tried dating, and it was very unsuccessful, I felt like I was cheating on her when I went out, I know it’s stupid, I just don’t see a point in waking up anymore, I used to have goals and dreams for a future with a family and kids, now I don’t even see that, I’ve lost all motivation and taste for life, and I really don’t understand how people can just do this to the ones they claimed they loved.

Sorry long winded, and I’m not even sure what the point of it is, venting I guess, the people around me don’t get why I haven’t just moved on, and I don’t know how to even explain it.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 11h ago

Vent/Rant Warning: They may have been amazing in a relationship, but their post-discard “friendships” are despicable. 😠😡

27 Upvotes

I’m one of the few here who has broken NC several times. I usually go a few months, and then break contact again. (I know: bad habit.) I did see him once before I moved states, and it was honestly really nice and warm and wonderful to see him.. even flirty. But friendship when we are just texting? I’m so done.
He’s selfish, ungrateful, and really the worst friend. Which always kills.. because we were BEST friends when we were in a relationship. I think finally this is the driver to keep NC and stop the faux-friend cycle. Because it’s not what it was prior.

Is your ex-avoidant also a rude friend?

-i sent him an news article I really thought he’d appreciate (as it aligns with his political views). He said “don’t have to time to read anymore. Have too much crap and work in my life.” (Uhh.. most friends would at least say “thank you for sending!”)

-I was staying nearby for work recently and invited him over for a drink (on me). He said “I’m in chaos with kids and life and shit. Life will never give me a break… waaaaaaaaaa” (A “thank you for the invite” would have been polite at minimum.)

- he sent me a pix of his kid winning a football game. I said “congrats! He looks so happy! Were you so proud of him for doing his best? My daughter’s birthday was today..”. He said “yeah. This is how I spend my time off. Going to games with the ex.” (Most friends or even acquaintances would say “happy birthday to your kid!” )

Are any of your ex-avoidant selfish as friends? (Post relationship?)


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 21h ago

Vent/Rant A letter to my avoidant

26 Upvotes

I’ll probably never send

Avoidant, I really did and do love you. I trusted you in a way I never trusted anyone, in a way I’ll likely struggle to do again. The day you chose to walk away a part of me broke and I don’t think any amount of time will fix me completely. I don’t say that to shame you or to make you feel bad. Honestly, a lot of the changes this pushed me to make are for the better. If anything I should thank you.

The first few weeks there was nothing I wanted more than for you to come back and save me from the hole you put me in. I wanted you to love me, to choose me, to live up to all the promises we made to each other, but you never came. So I did the only thing I could do, I started to read and research how this could happen. Was I the problem? Did I do something wrong? Would you ever come back to me? Should I just move on?

Through my research and honestly borderline obsession I learned more than I ever thought I would know about relationship psychology. As hard as it is for me to accept, we were never going to work out. I think through my own healing I’ve realised how much you’ve been through in your life, and how little time you’ve had to heal.

The woman that loved me, that was vulnerable with me, and looked me in the eyes and told me she wanted a future is not the woman that broke my heart. I know the you that loved me is still in there, I think you’re just protecting yourself in a tragic way. I think the pain you’ve went through in your life has somehow convinced you that you’re not worthy of being loved, or even worse, to fear it because you’ll just end up hurt again. You’ve been hurt so much by life, and it’s so incredibly unfair. I wish I could take all the pain away and show you yourself through my eyes.

No amount of love I could give you could change the fact that you have to heal. If not we’d just do it all again. I say this as a person who loves you even after the greatest pain I’ve ever felt. Please go to therapy, please talk to friends, please read some books about trauma, and please face the parts of yourself that you ran from when you broke my heart.

I truly hope hurting me is enough motivation for you to face your demons head on. You’re one of the strongest people I have ever met, I really mean that. If this heartbreak is the cost of you realising that you truly deserve to, and can let yourself be loved, it’s a cost I’d pay again in a heartbeat.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 4h ago

What makes fearful avoidants stay in relationship for years?

23 Upvotes

Genuine question.

Fearful avoidants are known to be scared of intimacy, vulnerability and accountability.

Deep romantic relationships between two people require those three things I previously mentioned.

And I also found out that the more important you are to them, the faster the discard is. So, I'm genuinely curious what makes them stay so long in relationships and some even get married. Do they secretly compartmentalize or do they keep relationships shallow and low-stakes?

Feel free to express your opinions on this as well.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 18h ago

Do you think about what he said about his exes, and how much context must have been left out?

22 Upvotes

(edit: should've been a gender neutral title, sorry, i was emotional!)

He never directly trashtalked his exes, but he did bring up certain things as if to say, "look at what she did" to garner some kind emotion towards him at her expense.

For example, he brought up sleeping over at his then-gf's bed, and how he was hanging off of the edge of the bed while she cuddled him. He basically implied he felt suffocated by her clinginess to (god forbid) cuddle. I wish I had been smart enough to ask if he ever verbally brought up that he needed space..

Anyway, that story was told before we started dating, so when he started sleeping over with me, I noticed immediately how he was on the edge every night. I was hyper vigilant of his obvious need for space, so with almost every kind of touch, every hug, every kiss, I was asking if it was okay first.

Even when I was on the opposite end of our very large bed (large enough to comfortably fit a third person in the middle), he stayed on the edge for months. In a typical night, I would ask for his consent to hug him from behind, then hug him for maybe 10 mins before pulling away, even though I would've wanted to cuddle more. There would rarely be reciprocation. When he was comfortable enough to start falling asleep mid-cuddle, I still pulled away, which he woke up from but seemed to overall appreciate/build his trust. I would have had no idea about any this if he hadn't told that story, which was just him venting about being cuddled with, completely leaving out his avoidant personality that's easy to miss as a platonic friend.

i think about her sometimes, and the other exes I've heard about through him, and now how I must be painted in a negative light as he leaves out extremely important details about himself and his lack of verbal self advocacy. It sets off a lot of pent up anger within me.

edit: despite everything, writing this and reliving how much i had tried to accommodate him, and how rewarding it was to see him feeling safe in the little details, it all hurts so much.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 6h ago

DA Breakup Did you ever feel completely relaxed around your ex?

19 Upvotes

I just remember always being on edge. Walking on eggshells, trying to read his mood, always hyper vigilant. Exhausting.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 13h ago

DA Breakup Internal emotional pain

14 Upvotes

I’m really going through it. It is physically hurting me from the inside to detach myself from this horrible human. How do you deal with this pain? The wound feels so fresh after 4 months. I’d rather have physical pain than this emotional torture.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 10h ago

Avoidant Advice Requested Can being abruptly discarded by someone you loved cause emotional trauma? How do you recover from something like this? I feel like a part of me died.

12 Upvotes

About ten months ago, I went through a breakup that I’m still struggling to process psychologically.

For context, I was seeing someone for nearly a year. We talked every single day, expressed feelings for each other, and developed what I believed was a meaningful emotional connection. He even asked me to be his boyfriend at one point and wanted me to meet his mother. He shared personal things with me, and I genuinely believed we were building toward something serious.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he ended everything through a prewritten text message. He later admitted he’d had the message prepared for weeks. Within minutes, he stopped sharing his location and blocked me across practically every platform. He answered one phone call but otherwise gave me almost no opportunity to have a conversation or process what had happened.

He told me he was depressed, needed to be alone, wasn’t ready for a relationship, and that I was holding him back from getting help. He also said he needed to make the breakup as easy as possible for himself.

What makes this especially confusing is that approximately two months later, he was already in another relationship. That relationship eventually ended, and now he’s back on Tinder and actively posting pictures of himself in Facebook dating groups looking to meet other men.

I genuinely cannot reconcile the person who spoke to me every day, expressed affection, wanted me to meet his family, and discussed a future with me with the person who suddenly cut me out of his life as though I never existed.

It’s been almost ten months, and I’ve struggled with emotional numbness, anxiety, difficulty trusting people, and fear of abandonment, even while dating someone new. Sometimes when the person I’m currently seeing leaves my apartment, I experience anxiety and sadness, almost as though I’m preparing myself to never see him again.

I’m not trying to diagnose my ex or suggest he wasn’t allowed to move on. I’m genuinely trying to understand why this experience has affected me so profoundly.

Can an abrupt breakup involving emotional attachment, blocking, and a complete loss of contact cause a trauma-like response? Is there a psychological explanation for why someone can seemingly detach so quickly while the other person remains emotionally affected months later? And most importantly, how do you recover from this without carrying that fear into future relationships?


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 4h ago

Why would someone who was so kind and sweet suddenly become outright cruel during a breakup?

12 Upvotes

Recently broke up with an avoidant I was dating for 3 months, and I’m struggling to understand how someone who was consistently so kind, warm, affectionate and thoughtful towards me could suddenly become so cruel and degrading in one evening. I only came to this realisation about his avoidance after/during our break up. Things were good because I let him take control of the pace and plan all the dates. Things were always on his terms and I went along with it. But I saw a complete different side to him during our break up and I’m struggling to find the distinction between a flawed man versus someone who is cruel.

We had a genuinely lovely three months together, and I thought we were building towards something meaningful. We’d been taking things slowly, which I was okay with, but recently I wanted to have a conversation about me feeling a bit disconnected with him and how we could feel a little more connected. This was the first time my voiced my needs( which I thought were basic).

What was supposed to be an open, honest conversation turned into an evening where it felt like he was deliberately finding things to criticise or hurt me with.

For example, when I mentioned that occasional little check-ins between dates would make me feel more connected as we only see each other once a week despite living 10 mins apart, he told me that texting frequently had never worked for him in the past. Mind you, I don’t need constant texting. Just once a day or a call would be nice for someone I spent 3 months with. He then said the only girl he’d ever texted frequently was someone who sent him nudes, and suggested that if I wanted more attention, I could do that.

When I tried to explain that I’m quite independent and sometimes struggle to express my emotional needs, he turned it around on me, essentially blaming me for feeling disconnected because I could have just texted him myself.
When he cancelled on me on a nice dinner date that I had planned for us and I communicated to him that I was upset, he said that was on me and that it was my fault for accommodating him into my schedule.

There were several other comments throughout the evening that felt unnecessarily personal, dismissive and degrading. It was almost as though every time I tried to be vulnerable or explain how I felt, he found another way to put me down.

Eventually, he admitted that he didn’t see a future with me. And that’s okay. I can accept that someone doesn’t want the same things as me.

What I cant understand is cruelty and his degrading comments. I wasn’t attacking him or demanding anything. Even when he was being hurtful, I was trying to understand him and reassure him that I liked him for who he was.

I’m now struggling to compare the sweet, affectionate man I knew for three months with the person I saw that evening.
Was this some sort of defence mechanism because he felt emotionally confronted? Was he deliberately pushing me away? Or was this a side of his character I simply hadn’t seen until now? Has anyone experienced such a drastic change in someone’s behaviour, especially when you’re being vulnerable with them?

I’m just struggling to be empathetic towards a flawed person who struggles with conflict vs a cruel person who’s never going to treat me right.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 13h ago

Texted me this 2 months before the discard 😔

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11 Upvotes

We broke up a week ago and I’m devastated. I ended it because she just started to phase me out after this. Was coming up on a year of long distance dating. She just came to visit and we had an amazing time together. Just feeling down… I know this is a part of it, but it’s still so hard to wrap your brain around how someone can want you so badly one day, and weeks later act like they never wanted you at all.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 7h ago

DA Breakup So.. I broke no contact...

10 Upvotes

After 3.5 months of no contact after my DA gf (F32) discarded me I sent her the following text on WhatsApp...

"A lot of time has passed, and I’ve often thought about whether it makes sense to write to you or if it’s better to leave things as they are. I am not writing to change any decisions, nor to reopen what hurt us. It’s just that, as time goes by, I can look back at what we lived through a bit more clearly.

I miss some of our moments together. Not the way I missed them at first, when everything hurt and I just wanted to turn back time. I mostly miss that very special feeling that once existed between us. The anticipation. The teasing. Our conversations. That sense that, in the middle of the whole world, we had found each other again.

A lot has changed inside me over these months. More than I expected. There were things I once waited for you to believe about me. In the end, I had to learn to believe in myself. And, as strange as it sounds, I’m glad it happened that way. I didn’t become a different person. I think I just found pieces of myself again that I had lost.

And maybe that’s why today I can tell you something without anger and without expectations: whatever happened in the end, what I felt with you was real to me. And there are moments when I still smile when I remember that version of you I got to know again in early 2025 — and the way the two of us were back then.

I don’t know where your life has taken you today, and I don’t want to assume. I just wanted you to know that, now that much of the anger and pain has faded, I wasn't just left with the bad things inside me. Much tenderness remained, too.

I truly hope you and your son are doing well. And if, at some point, you ever want to know how the person writing to you today is doing, I would be happy to catch up."

I don't know what to expect... she hasn't read it yet, since she is probably asleep...


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 19h ago

FA Breakup My FA ex disappeared for a month, then casually asked to come over like nothing happened. How would you respond?

7 Upvotes

My ex FA recently came back into my life after breaking up with me in January. 7 months later I responded to one of his stories because I missed him and he had been sending subliminals for the last few months. I decided to bite. He responded to me and we began talking from there. However, the day after we started talking, his father died. While he was going through putting his father to rest, he was texting me, sending long paragraphs letting me know how everything was going. I was surprised.

He came over a week later and we talked for hours and hours. He cried to me. We were intimate. He asked me to the movies. We were talking relatively frequently after that, although I could still sense the avoidant weirdness.

“I trust you,” he said, the next time he came over. “I feel like we can talk about anything. Talking to you and being around you feels so good. I don’t have the kind of relationship with anyone that I do with you,” he said.

Then, for no reason at all, he began to pull away. I hadn’t expressed wanting to be together. I had been busy with a project so I wasn’t even able to respond to him quickly most of the time. I didn’t ask him for anything.

He disappeared for a month. When I reached out, he gave me a long story about being overwhelmed with family disputes—it was the same story as when we were in a relationship. I left him alone. He was posting on IG, with friends, out and about (I would rather die than watch those stories, so I did not).

Then, 2 weeks later, he hits me up on a rainy day:

“Am I still allowed over on rain days?”

Ew.

I didn’t respond. At that point, I was so disgusted by his behavior I didn’t even want to acknowledge that stupid text.

Later that day he called me, which shocked me. He hadn’t picked up his stubby hands to call me in ages. I didn’t pick up.

The next day, he texted me:

“I took off work today. If you wanted to hang out at any point, let me know.”

I didn’t respond to that either. It’s been a week since he reached out and I’ve just been silent. I feel disrespected and turned off. He is trying to have access to me without giving me what I need, which is communication between hanging out.

I do feel a sense of empowerment not responding to him. For the first time, it feels like I have some dignity for myself. And at the same time I miss him. What would you do in this situation?


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 14h ago

FA Breakup Yelling into the void

7 Upvotes

Look I get it. This was my first major relationship at 30. And she was much more experienced at 29.

I get I don’t initiate sex enough, i could’ve bought more flowers or been better at planning. I should’ve spoke up more.

Idk why I was so passive or scared. I wasn’t scared of you, I just was trying to build an airplane while flying.

And the way you broke up with me hurt. It’s clear we were still attached after. We had a real connection. To be the guy you wanted to us breaking up is my failure.

You could’ve told me in person instead of over text.

I just want YOU back, and I pray to god you come back. You got a new man now, and I’m sure he’s everything I’m not.

When you told me you love me still, I know you meant it. Because I still love you too. When you told me that I was the first guy you told this too after your fiancee I know you meant it. When you told me you’ve never felt this way before I get it - because I haven’t either. You’re the first person I opened my heart to.

I don’t regret a single moment we spent together.

I just want another chance love.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 16h ago

Avoidant Advice Requested Years of Situationship, Then He Ghosted Me. Now He's in a Stable Relationship. Was I the Problem?

7 Upvotes

I was in an on-and-off long distance relationship with a guy for 4 years. He never gave me the proper commitment I wanted, but he would come back into my life and give me hope but never commitment even after I blocked him many times.

The last time he came back in 2025, he told me he regretted losing me and wanted me in his life. He loves me and wants to marry me and I'm his last girl. I trusted him again. But there were fights 2-3 times regarding previous hurt he had caused me followed by me blocking him and then unblocking him again and then we started talking normally.

However, once, when I asked him for help with a college assignment, he didn't want to help. I felt hurt and stopped talking to him for a week, but eventually, I reached out to him again. This time, he ghosted me permanently.

Around 3–4 months later, he got into a new relationship, and now it's been a year. From what I can see, their relationship seems to be going well.

I'm struggling to digest the fact that he couldn't give me the commitment I wanted for years, yet he seems to be making things work with someone else. People told me that he would eventually come back, that his new relationship wouldn't last, and that he would repeat the same behaviour with his new girlfriend. But he hasn't come back, and their relationship is still going. He has deleted my number.

Now I'm starting to wonder whether I was the problem. If he can be in a seemingly stable relationship with someone else, does that mean I was the problem? Why hasn't his karma hit him?

Edit: I blocked him twice during our three months relationship in 2025. Once because I got to know he had previously gone to prostitute. I couldn't believe it as this guy used to talk lot of spirituality, osho and achrya prashant and used to read lot of philosophical books

Second time because he broke his promise . He promised to call me but then he said it's his friend's farewell so he can't . I was sad because it always seemed me I'm not his priority. Once I had to fight with him because I said I want to be attached to you if I'm in relationship with you . He said attached is biological but I said idk all that . I'll be attached if I'm in relationship


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 13h ago

FA Breakup I want to know

6 Upvotes

I want to know from folks, but especially those who were broken up with by their FA/DA, only for them to return and treat you similarly, until you needed to walk away for your own well-being:

Did their actions ever make you feel like their pain took precedence?

Did they wait until you had a grievance to share and work through to make you aware of all the grievances they were holding back?

Did you ever feel like you needed to bury the hurt for their comfort based on how easily they broke down, placed distance, etc?

Did you ever feel like you were a fixture in their life, like a light they turned on only when they were in the room, and somehow you were so excited for that little bit of attention?

Did they act like they were present, but you always felt them miles away even when you occupied the same space?

Did they secretly hold resentment, until you pushed for the truth?

How else did they impact you?


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 14h ago

FA Breakup Ignoring his breadcrumb after his 3rd discard

6 Upvotes

As with any FA breakup there were multiple and there’s so much to say about the highs and lows of the relationship. I’m still in love with him and not going back is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

He broke up with me a total of 3 times. He came back after the second breakup telling me he had a gut feeling I was the one and that he wanted to do the work to earn back my trust. Then he broke up with me again 2.5 months later saying it was true at the time but not anymore. I texted him 2 days after the breakup trying to repair and he didn’t respond.

4 months later he reached out…

Him: Hi ecpella, how have you been?

Me (2 days later): Hey FA ex. I care about you deeply. I was hurt by the way things ended and your decision not to respond to my last text. If I thought you were reaching out now because you were truly ready for a real relationship and to be a partner to me nothing could make me happier. But I know that’s not the case and you have things you need to figure out starting with your health. I hope you can learn to love yourself before you try to love anyone else. You were always enough. I can’t repeat the cycle.

Him (20 min later): I just wanted to know how you were doing.
I created distance initially because I did not want to foster a drawn out situation.
But now that some time has passed I figured it would be ok to say hello and check on you.

Me (1 day later): I’m doing the best I can but I’m heartbroken FA ex, okay? Nothing has changed for me and I told you it wouldn’t. And I lost both my grandma and my cat this weekend. And then I heard from you… just so you could tell me how over it you are? I’m not, okay. Now you know.

Him (3 hours later): I don't know what to say, other than I'm sorry. I'm praying for you.
(2 min later he sent another text): I’m also not over it

I didn’t respond and it’s been over a month. My bday passed last weekend and he didn’t reach out. I have been distraught over this and questioning if I made a mistake and drafted a dozen unsent responses.

I know you guys are the only people who can understand and help me feel like I’m not crazy and doing the right thing.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 10h ago

FA Breakup When FA move on quickly - have they changed or do we just tell ourselves that they’re rebounding to avoid confronting the parts of themselves, we asked them to and they refused..

5 Upvotes

My FA ex and I were on and off since January 2022. I gave him an ultimatum at the end of 2024. It wasn’t something that I particularly wanted to do, but I was getting so physically sick of the intermittentness of the relationship dynamic he had created. And he said he’d choose healthier habits for us. He struggled a lot in his childhood, and I feel like I always gave him an excuse to treat me poorly. Of course he’s told me that I complete him, nobody comes remotely close to how he feels about me, I have the best heart… I’m so amazing and I mean so much to him. Then he goes weeks without talking to me and just tells me that he’s gone into himself and I should know that this is just how he is. He can’t sustain closeness for very long! Blah blah the usual

Last year in 2025, I ended things for good and went no contact and of course he was calling me probably every month in the middle of the night. But he didn’t want to repair things/wasn’t capable of doing so. This year for whatever reason, I answered one of those phone calls and we started things back up again. I started getting physically sick again. In May, I told him I’m done, I never want to see him/hear from him again. That I accepted a new job somewhere and I am moving away (at the time, I actually was about to move, but at the last minute I didn’t due to family obligations).

I just found out that two weeks after I went no contact and ended things for good with him, he met somebody and is in a fully committed/exclusive relationship.

I remember literally just a couple months ago telling him that I’m done and he was laughing. Scoffing almost. That home is home. I’ll be back.

Did he change for her? Am I just telling myself that he rebounded?

My friend/family keep telling me that I held a mirror up to him. That he wasn’t capable/willing to change. And that somebody doesn’t just automatically heal in weeks with substance abuse, closeness/intimacy/Withdrawl issues.

Unless she has magical unicorn skin woven into her bedsheets lol. I feel like deep down. I know that he hasn’t really changed in this new relationship is probably new and he obviously doesn’t have years of repairing to do.

I feel like I know him better than anybody. Even his friends have told me that they don’t even know half of the shit that he’s put me through because he doesn’t talk about anything with anyone except for me. But it cost me a lot, being his emotional punching bag.

So… Did they truly change or is it a mask that they’ve put on with the newbie?


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 11h ago

FA Breakup What do you guys do when the urge to reach out comes back?

6 Upvotes

Hello-2.5 months into a breakup with a FA. We left of on good terms which made the breakup all the more tough. Issues surrounded her career, finances, and an emotional disconnect that came with her avoidant tendencies. I could tell she was pulling away so I sat her down and we decided to break up. She admitted it there was a lot on her end

Month 1 and 2 was tough, but I managed to make it through. Going into October I was really hopeful and was thinking about putting myself back out there again. Then this week, I went to a concert, something we used to do together, and had a good time. But on the way home back, all I could think of was how I wish we could get back together. Since then I can’t stop with the scenarios of us getting back together and how I can win her over again. But I know logically it doesn’t make sense. I know that an avoidant can’t change in 2.5 months.

How do you guys deal with this? I’m sure I’m not the only one to go through this.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 4h ago

Later Stage Healing - Your Own Inner Work Feeling broken years later

3 Upvotes

Looking for advice from anyone who has been through something similar. I dated an avoidant years ago for about a year. He moved away, we were in touch off and on over another period of a year. Eventually, I couldn’t take the future faking anymore and told him so. I feel like something broke in me after that relationship, and I honestly haven’t felt the same since. I’ve even had another long term relationship in between. Does anyone have any advice for fully moving on? It’s been about 5 years since I last spoke to the avoidant ex.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 5h ago

Prolonged loss of libido following an avoidant?

3 Upvotes

Has anyone experienced a complete loss of libido after an avoidant breakup?

It’s now been nearly a year since being ghosted, and I still experience no sexual desire or arousal whatsoever.

I wasn’t someone with an exceptionally high drive beforehand, but there was still a capacity for desire and enjoyment, especially when I felt emotionally connected and safe with my partner. The desire itself just isn’t there anymore, and even the idea feels strangely foreign or unappealing to me.

It’s been disheartening, especially given how much time has passed, and sometimes I worry that this part of me won’t return. That I’ve been ruined

I’m curious whether anyone else has experienced something similar, particularly for an extended period of time, and whether your desire eventually returned or improved. I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 7h ago

Vent/Rant When does it get easier

4 Upvotes

It has been almost seven months since the discard and almost 6 months since the last time I saw him like I see who he is–a fucking coward who needed to find a relationship with the girl used to say was like a daughter before having the courage to break up with me and then still could not be honest with me.

I don't want him back. I know my life is so much better without him. But when does it get better?