You had a good reason you left at first, yes?
You got together, gave it a try and it failed. Some people simply don’t work together. You may still have feelings for this person, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are not as compatible as you first imagined — or that you may now be relapsing to imagine. If you let your ex go once, let him or her go forever. Time heals all wounds, right? Maybe all you two needed was some time apart to do some soul searching. Or, it could be that you are both more mature after some time went by. Often, after the world moves forward, you forget what it was you fought about, and you can restart with a clean slate. Whatever the case may be, time has made you two see that you want to be with one another, so why wait any longer?
There are seven billion people on earth
The world may be getting smaller, but the amount of people and potential lovers is increasing. In other words, there are more and more people for you to potentially fall in love with, and it’s getting easier and easier to meet them. Don’t settle.
You can change socks; you can’t change people
My dad told me that, and I hate to say, but it’s true. You know that thing that annoyed you about him that made you realize you’re not compatible? He still has that. People do not change. He still likes bad Nicolas Cage movies. He still thinks that terrible taco place next to him is “a nice restaurant”; he still argues the same way. So all you can do is change socks. Aka find someone new. Life is short. You deserve to be happy and eating at a restaurant with at least an A rating.
Old habits die hard
I hope my two cents helped you if you’re on the fence of getting back with an ex. I truly believe in the words of the great Bob Dylan: “Don’t look back.”
Emotional baggage weighs down each of us. Thankfully, the suitcase becomes lighter as time goes on; older memories are whitewashed by new ones. The problem is, when you do decide to get back together with an ex, your baggage seems to start gaining weight… and quickly.
All those bad memories you had of fights, all those things that annoyed you about the person and all the things you did to hurt each other all come back. It doesn’t all come back at once, but in big waves. The fights start up again and a few long months later, you’re back where you started: broken.