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"I&amp;#x27;m so sorry that a few of you are going thru bad break-ups, or even worse, stuck in relationship purgatory. I was in a long relationship, ages ago, and spent the last year (out of several) in a dark, demonic funk, going back and forth.... Do I stay or do I go....do I stay or do I go...do I stay or do I go? It was all I thought about.&amp;amp;nbsp; Deciding whether we should break-up -- or not -- consumed me, and for the first time in my life, I literally had NO idea what to do. Something felt wrong, but I couldn&amp;#x27;t put my finger on it. There was just this omnipresent, intangible, indescribable feeling.....This is not where I&amp;#x27;m supposed to be right now. If only there had been a fight, or a lie, or a personality clash, or anything that I could have used as validation.&amp;amp;nbsp; But, no, I was about to derail our entire existence because of....a hunch. Like many of you, what made my decision so damn hard was this profound fear of hurting him.&amp;amp;nbsp; Because even though he was my rock, and my entire livelihood, I knew I&amp;#x27;d be OK. &amp;amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;m a survivor,&amp;amp;quot; I&amp;#x27;d tell myself. But the thought of inflicting so much pain on such an innocent man, such a loving man, such an honest man, terrorized my thought process. I was always fuzzy, always unsure, always distraught. Then someone -- who I barely knew, but somehow trusted --&amp;amp;nbsp; slapped me across the face emotionally.&amp;amp;nbsp; If you love him, you have to let him go. He said it over and over and over.&amp;amp;nbsp; If you love him, you have to let him go. I was so drained, confused, and psychologically exhausted that I embraced this stranger&amp;#x27;s vehemence, closed my eyes and did it. Well it wasn&amp;#x27;t that simple, but you know. I stopped questioning myself.&amp;amp;nbsp; I finally made a choice....and freed us both. Years passed. Everyone is back on their feet. I guess what I&amp;#x27;m trying to say is that I totally understand how brutal breaking-up -- before, during and after -- can be. It always bothered me when people would say, &amp;amp;quot;At least it wasn&amp;#x27;t divorce....at least you didn&amp;#x27;t have kids.....at least you were young....&amp;amp;quot; Maybe they&amp;#x27;re right, but nonetheless, it was a sad journey.&amp;amp;nbsp; To me, breaking someone&amp;#x27;s heart is pure sorrow. Nothing compares.&amp;amp;nbsp; Even being on the other end. Every situation is different, but from your experience, is it harder breaking up with someone -- or being broken up with?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/man-needs-date/2007/03/when-the-relationship-has-sail>