10 Invigorating Ways To Never Have To Think About Your Ex Again

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Cleansing yourself of an ex has nothing to with bitterness or anger (okay maybe initially). It’s actually a cathartic way of letting go of that part of your life. You may need a glass of wine for this (or two). The point of this cleanse is not only to get rid of their sh*t, but to allow yourself to revisit those memories before you pack them away for good.

1. Take down all the pictures. ALL of them. The cheesy photo booth one from your cousin’s sweet sixteen last summer? That needs to go. Empty those frames and throw ‘em in a pile. Next get a lighter. If you don’t want to risk burning the house down, a paper shredder is just as effective. Allow yourself to really look at these pictures and bask in the memories before you get rid of them for good.

2. Grab that mixtape with the love note sprawled on it. Stomp on it. Stomp on it real good. Even if it contains some of John Mayer’s greatest hits and you really enjoy listening to it on long car rides…you know you can’t go there without bawling your eyes out.

3. Find every article of their clothing and put it aside to donate to charity (Charity work see? This is a great thing!).

4. Take all birthday cards, miscellaneous love notes, and repeat step #1.

5. Gather all of the Christmas, birthday, Valentine’s day gifts, etc. You can choose to keep them if there aren’t any significant emotional attachments, or pawn the jewelry and sell the rest on the internet (to each his own).

6. Delete all voicemails containing drunken declarations of love and affection.

7. The text messages have to go too. Especially the funny/cute ones you’ve saved in screenshots.

8. If you really hate them at this point, delete and/or block them on every form of social media.

9. If you’re keeping their phone number in your contacts, it’s time to part ways with the nickname and emojis…a formal first and last name will do.

10. Now that you have completed the “ex cleanse” you can give yourself time to hurt and properly heal. Transfer the love you had for this person into your hobbies and to the people who have been around from the beginning and never left. Take care of yourself, newly single ones. And remember, this is an end but also the start of a brand new adventure.

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