Songs for a Breakup, Vol. 1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Everyone celebrates the anniversary when they and their beloved first met as a way to mark yet another year of life together, but recently I’ve been thinking if one should also celebrate breakup anniversaries as a way of marking yet another year of someone not being in your life?
Breakups are painful, horrible things, even the ones that go ‘well’. There is a sense of loss and grief even if the breakup is for the best. Almost everyone who goes through a breakup goes through a period where they look deep within themselves and make some changes, even if that change is just to never date that type of person again. Therefore, why should we not celebrate this? Why shouldn’t we raise a glass of wine or our favourite beverage and say, here is to another year free of X where I have overcome loss and come out the other side stronger? Even if you don’t feel a sense of personal growth and happiness, one can raise glass and say here is to making it through another year without X.
Breakups have been on my mind lately. Some dear friends both online and off are going through some breakups at the moment. Some have moved on and for some the pain is still raw. I’m coming up to my 2 year breakup anniversary and the truth is I couldn’t be happier with where my life is now. I want to celebrate this. Who is with me?
I say celebrate it. If you have managed to LEARN something from an experience… that newfound knowledge is worth celebrating.
I learnt a hell of a lot from my last breakup and I think I’m still learning things from it.
You know what? You’re absolutely right. I’m not quite at the celebrating stage yet but it’s good to know that when I get there, we can celebrate together.
Let me know when you reach the celebratory stage (no rush) and we shall go out and celebrate!
For the first couple of years following the breakup of my 4yr relationship I used to wish my ex ‘Happy anti-anniversary’. We had spent time apart and in the year between our breakup and the first anti-anniversary had become tentative friends again who talked on a semi-regular basis. It happened for a few years then a couple of years ago, I totally forgot about it. It was a few days later and that signalled to me that I’d moved on and I haven’t done it since, that ex and I are still friends, insofar that you can be friends with an ex.
Celebrate, remember or mull over at your leisure. Dates that things change will vary between people and should be acknowledged if they have meaning to you :)