It’s a Break Up, Not Cancer.

 RULE 1: Defriend and Delete

Breaking up with someone is hard enough, but today social media can make it much worse. Seeing a tagged photo of your ex with his or her arm around someone other than you is pretty much the last thing you want to see, let alone a status update. It can also be really easy to become obsessive, checking their page or tweets 24/7. You start to read into minor things. You may see that photo and think, ‘‘What the hell is that girl doing touching my guy?’’ when she’s just a friend from class. Plus, speaking strictly for girls here, we over think everything. Like if you see that he's online at 2 a.m., your crazy ass will jump to the conclusion that he can’t sleep because he’s thinking about you. Newsflash: not likely. 

However, if the relationship ended on good terms, de-friending or deleting their number can be a little extreme. Try hiding him or her from your feed through your privacy settings, that way you are still friends, but won’t have a constant urge to click on their profile. 

RULE 2: Don’t Act Out In The Heat Of The Moment Once you're done with crying, for now anyways, you usually enter that pissed-off phase. You’re angry that it didn't work out, or for all of the things you wish you could have done. You want to show them that you can do better and that you’ve moved on. But don't go there.  Sending a long, angry text may make you feel good for the first five minutes, but getting in a fight with your ex isn’t worth it. 

Also, avoid posting things online just because you know your ex will see. Tweeting "can't wait for my date tonight!" (when you know you’ll be crying in your bed alone watching The Notebook for the eighty fourth time) or tagging a picture of yourself hugging some random hottie can actually backfire. It's easy to fool yourself into thinking that you're getting over him or her because you're seeing other people and publicizing how fun your life is now, but if you’re just posting so that one of your ex’s friends or your ex sees it, you aren’t truly moving forward. 

And never, ever, EVER drunk dial your ex. The time you'll most likely be tempted to text him or her is when you're tipsy. So take extra precautions. Give your phone to a friend at the beginning of the night. Screaming out a bunch of slurred ‘I still love you’s?’ Hellllllll nooooo. 

RULE 3: Find the Good in Goodbye

When a break up initially happens, it’s like an open wound. It hurts like crazy and all you can think about is that pain. Eventually, you'll get to the post-split emotion of missing them, which usually happens when you've been broken up for a while. As tempting as it will be, don’t go and put on their old sweatshirts or look at old pictures of you guys together. It’ll just make you confused, and end up hurting you more. Learn to let go. Everything heals over time. It’s okay to miss someone who was an important part in your life at one point, but accept the fact that they aren’t in it anymore. Life does go on. Not to sound cliche, but there’s plenty of fish in the sea. 

Rebounds: Having Fun in the Right Way

Sadly, there’s no switch or green light that goes off in our brains that tells us when we’re emotionally ready to start a relationship with someone new. However, that doesn’t mean you have to wait around trying to figure out when it’s time to get with someone else. Hence the good ole rebounds. Urban Dictionary defines a rebound as;

hooking up with someone shortly after being dumped (by someone else) so that you still feel wanted. the kind of relationship that is simply happening in order to get over another one that recently ended.

So yeah, you just got dumped. Now it’s time to get back in the game. First and foremost, you must go into any rebound situation knowing that hooking up with a new girl or guy won’t fill a missing void. Don’t go into anything new thinking that you need this to make you happy again. 

There is only four key goals into having a successful rebound. Your first goal should be to simply have a good time, with zero regrets. The second goal is to find a sexy, hot piece of ass. I mean, why not, right? Have a little fun. Your third goal should be making everything about you. In a relationship, there’s that stupid thing called a compromise. Screw that. In a rebound, it’s totally okay to be selfish. Lastly, never fall for the rebound. You will think that you’re completely head over heels in love with this person, but you’re not. 

After a serious relationship, it is perfectly okay to have a little fun. After all, they say you never get over a person until you get under someone else.