Why Do You Miss Your Ex Even After A Year? 5 Reasons

Walking away from a relationship that you thought would be meaningful is always difficult. Even after you’ve gone through all the stages of grief, there’s still longing. But why it is hard to let go? Why do you miss your ex even after years of separating? Here’re the reasons why.

You are not alone if you still miss your ex after a year. I know you might be judging yourself because you do but DON’T.

Societal pressure makes us believe that it’s not okay to mourn. We are expected to get over the hurt and move on. And if we can’t, it makes us feel bad about ourselves. And feeling bad about ourselves will only hinder forward progress.

Understanding why you still miss your ex after a year will help you understand and hopefully forgive yourself so that you can move forward and find the love of your life.

Why Do You Miss Your Ex?

1. You have regrets.

I have a client who is full of regrets. Years ago, she cheated on her boyfriend and ultimately left him for another man. At the time it felt like the right thing to do but now she is full of regrets.

My client didn’t get to the place where she was unfaithful in a void. Her boyfriend had broken promises to her, made plans for his future that didn’t include her, and didn’t make her a priority when she needed him. Because of this, she was driven into the arms of another man. And she left.

What she struggles with most is that she was unfaithful. In retrospect, it feels incredibly selfish to her. She feels like if she had talked to him about how she was feeling, instead of looking outside the relationship, they might have made it.

And, if they had made it, they would have been living happily ever after. What I am here to say is that regrets will get you nowhere. My client believes that, if she had talked to him instead of fooling around, then they would be living happily ever after. But, she just doesn’t know that.

There were already cracks in her relationship that were starting to show – he was making choices without her and not making her a priority. Who is to say that those behaviors wouldn’t have continued. Or that, if they did fix things, a job on the other side of the country or the death of a parent or another person might have thrown a wrench in that relationship.

Regretting what ‘could have been’ is a waste of time because you are regretting something that might not have even happened.

If you are still missing your ex after a year, know that it might be because of regrets, about holding on to something that might have been, something that just really is something that you have made up in your head.

Read: Letting Go and Holding On: The Entanglement of Love

2. You are lying to yourself.

I believe that my client who regrets letting go of her ex has reinvented her relationship in her head. She talks to me about how wonderful he was, how she knew he was going to do big things, that she loved him madly and that they were each other’s soulmates. As a result, she still misses him.

The reality is, however, that they had plans to move to New York City after college but instead, without telling her, he applied to schools in San Francisco. His father died and, without talking to her, he made arrangements to live with his mother. She was feeling left behind and questioning herself in the relationship and he made her feel forgotten and unloved.

Be honest with yourself. Is the ex who you are missing really the ex that they were? If you miss your vacations together and the presents he gave you and that one fun concert you went to, are you perhaps missing those things instead of the person?

I have a client who was feeling really sad because she went to a concert that her husband had bought tickets to before he died suddenly. She told me how sad she was that they weren’t at the concert together but then she realized that, if they had been, he would have gotten drunk and sloppy and she would have had to get him home. She didn’t miss him so much after that.

So take stock – do you miss the person your ex was or the experiences that you had together? Seeing the difference might help you move on.

3. You haven’t found someone else.

The number one way to get over someone is to find someone else. Of course, we are told that we should ‘find ourselves’ before we move on, an admirable goal but, I believe, not necessarily the best move to help you move forward.

I know that when I broke up (again) with the married guy I had been seeing for two years, the only reason that I was finally able to make it stick was that someone else appeared in my life. That person was able to distract me from thoughts about my ex and keep me busy and make me feel loved.

Have you met someone else? Have you even put yourself out there to date? Or do you spend your nights and weekends mourning your ex and regretting what might have been? If you are still doing so, it makes sense that you are still missing your ex after a year.

4. You are unhappy in a relationship.

My client who had been regretting letting go of her ex ever did find someone else. She met him during the pandemic and they are now living together, talking about marriage and babies. But their life together is difficult and she talks to me often about breaking up with him.

I have noticed over the past few months, as their relationship has become more difficult, that she is missing her ex more than usual. She compares their relationship to the one she is in currently and it is making her question everything.

What I suggested to her is that the reason she suddenly misses her ex is that she is unhappy with her boyfriend, that idealizing someone who she walked away from a few years back is actually helping her justify why she is unhappy – that if she had just chosen differently she would be happy.

So, have you found someone but is your relationship struggling? An unhappy relationship can drive us back to the past and it’s no wonder that you still miss your ex after a year.

5. You aren’t happy in your life.

I have another client who has found that she still misses her ex after a year and it is driving her nuts. She had put herself out there, met some great guys, built a life for herself in another city – why hasn’t she just moved on?

My client had dated her guy in college. They were the golden couple – everyone wanted to be them. She was popular and social. She excelled at her work and dominated sports. He was the same. Life was grand.

Now, she had a great job and a great apartment, and a boyfriend but her life is different. She doesn’t have the kind of friends she had in college. She doesn’t get the adulation she got when her lacrosse team won a game. The high life that she lived in college is gone – and she misses it. And her ex was a part of that life she missed!

Where are you in your life? Are you happy with it outside of any relationship? Do you have a social life that pleases you? Do you like your apartment and your job and are you living up to your potential? If any things are missing, or you are dissatisfied elsewhere, it could be the reason you still miss your ex after a year.

Read: Can You Let Go Of Love And Still Find Happiness?

I would encourage you to take a good look at your life and see what you can do to make it better. If you do, you just might find that you can move on and stop missing your ex.

Still missing your ex after a year is not uncommon but I would encourage you to consider that it’s not necessarily your ex that you miss but something else! You have regrets for something that you think might have been – but something that might not ever have been.
You long for the person that you thought you could have been. You aren’t happy in your life and in your relationships.

Why do you miss your ex? I would encourage you to take stock of what you really miss about your ex. Is it true that you miss your ex or are you unhappy with the life you have now? Taking stock might help you let go of your ex and move forward to find the love that you want!

You can do it!

Written By: Mitzi Bockmann
Originally Appeared On: Let Your Dreams Begin

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