Why is It So Hard to Get Over an Ex-Boyfriend?

Almost every woman over the age of sixteen has had to go through a break-up and somehow get over an ex-boyfriend.  This is not an easy task, in most cases.  It is heartbreaking and for a time, the woman will feel as though the pain and loneliness will never go away.  She can’t even imagine that one day she will find a new love and this terrible feeling will be nothing more than a slightly sad memory.  It may not even be that.  She may look back with thankfulness that she got out of the relationship and moved on to something far better.

It seems that there is a huge difference between the way that men handle a break-up and the way that women do.  Men tend to move on much faster than their female counterparts.  They do not wallow in the grief for too long, and they usually even re-enter the dating world much faster.  Although there are some cases in which this is not true, it is the scenario more often than not.

Why is it that women seem to be far more prone to hanging onto the memories and emotional ties to a former boyfriend than he will for her?  There are several things that come into play and help to explain this situation.  There are the differences in emotional make-up, future dreaming, and the natural spirit of giving and caring that make an enormous difference in the length of time it will take for a person to get over an ex.

Women are typically more emotional, while men lean towards a more logical approach to life in general, including their love lives.  Women may see problems in the relationship, but if there is love, they feel that these can be overcome.  Men see the love, but if there are problems, they think that it is best to move on and find new love without the troubles they see plaguing this current one. 

Women also tend to be dreamers.  From the time that they are very young, they begin dreaming of a future in which they will meet and marry their Prince Charming, living happily ever after.  Life is a fairytale and every man they enter a relationship with becomes the Prince of the day.  With the end of each relationship, she will see the end of the dream.  That is hard to let go of. 

Because women tend to be natural caregivers, they become very involved in the lives of their romantic partners.  They give of themselves and they hand their hearts over fairly quickly.  This makes it very difficult for them to get over the former partner because they have lost a piece of themselves and of their hearts.  This loss is much bigger than just the loss of a man, it is a loss of self and that is extremely hard to get over.