Post Breakup

Dear Bro Jo,

I've just broken up with my girlfriend. Do you have any advice for those people who have recently broken up?

Thanks,
The Teen from Utah

PS
If it helps the quality of advice, I can elaborate if you want me to.


Dear Teen,

Breakups suck, even if they're a good thing (and, particularly at your age, they typically are).

Like any trial or pain in life, do your best to find the positive; try to find the blessings in the adversity.

If you find yourself suffering a lot from withdrawal symptoms one of the best things you can do is to remove the painful stimuli; take all the mementos, pictures, letters, all that stuff, and stick it in a box. You won't forget her any time soon, but you can do a lot to make the memories less vivid and often.

(Hey, man, no one has been dumped harder than yours truly - I know the pain - one girl I dated, and thought might be "the one" - because I was too dumb at the time to know any better - dumped me twice in 14 hours - and I'll bet you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's been dumped more often than me, too)

But whatever you do, don't burn any bridges. Don't talk garbage about her at school, don't spread any rumors, and, no matter how hard it is, don't be anything but nice to her. Trust me, there very likely may come a time when anything bad you've said in the wake of the breakup will come back to bite you.

If she gets a new boyfriend, even if he's a big jerk, keep your cool; be the Bigger Man. Kill them both with kindness.

As soon as you can, get back into the mode of Casual Group Dating. Get your buddies and set something up. No more girlfriends - at least not until you come home from your mission. Keep it light. Think of Casual Group Dating like a Priest-Laurel Activity without leaders and where you have the responsibility of treating one Laurel in particular extra nice.

And, no matter how much it may sound like a "Primary" answer, it's still true: never underestimate the Power of Prayer.

I feel for you, bud. Hang in there.

I promise it gets better.

Remember: Dating Sucks; Being Married Rocks, but you can't get to the latter without going through the former.

I'm always here for you,

- Bro Jo