Losing your ex might not be the only thing making you depressed. Are you feeling depressed after a breakup? Are you totally miserable and wondering why?
Feeling depressed after a breakup is totally natural. While it’s not surprising that you are devastated because your heart has been damaged, there are other, sometimes surprising reasons why you are feeling depressed.
Those reasons might be easier to manage if you have some awareness about them. Here are 5 surprising reasons you might be feeling depressed after a break up:
1. Fear
When you’re going through the pain of a breakup, you’re experiencing fear in many forms.
You’re afraid that you’ll be forever alone, that no one will ever love you again. You’re afraid that you’re unlovable. You’re afraid that you’re flawed.
One of the reasons you feel so much pain is because of your fear. It can be hard to manage, but it can be easier to push back on if you’re aware of exactly what you’re afraid of!
2. Boredom
I know, you’re depressed after a breakup and believe you’ll never be happy again. Your depression is warranted, but I would also argue that a lot of your depression comes from sheer boredom.
When you break up with someone, you lose a playmate. Someone to watch TV with, to go out to dinner with, to fool around with, to just hang out with during those downtimes. And now, you don’t have that person.
As a result, they are bored and spend lots of time thinking about their ex. Then, they get depressed.
3. Wasted time
Everyone has hopes and dreams, and when they lose someone, they feel like they have had to let go of their hopes and dreams forever.
Many people stay in relationships that aren’t serving them because they have “invested so much time already.” They don’t want to have to go back to online dating and start all over again.
So, they stay. And then, when the relationship eventually fails anyway, they have wasted even more time.
4. Self-doubt
You may not realize that when you’re feeling depressed after a breakup, it’s because you’re feeling so badly about yourself.
If you’re left by someone, you question why you weren’t good enough. If you do the leaving, you wonder what’s wrong with you that you can’t find a steady relationship.
You truly believe you’re flawed in some deep way that you’ll never be happy with someone and get the things you want in your life.
5. Other issues in your life
One of the things people really don’t notice when they’re feeling depressed after a breakup is that there is a whole lot of depressing stuff going on in the world. And those things make your depression worse.
The world is a hard place to cope with these days, and there could be other issues affecting your breakup and how you’re dealing with a broken heart.
So, as you ride out your broken heart, know that you will get through this time and out the other side better than ever!
