Sometimes You Have to Get Closure All by Yourself
He’s gone. Poof. Vanished into thin air. Well, there’s no mixed message here. He’s made it clear that he’s so not into you that he couldn’t even bother to leave you a Post-it. This time you may not be so quick to make excuses for his behavior. It’s so painful, it’s impossible not to be hurt or angry.
But because of that, you might be tempted to make some excuses for yourself. You have good reason to want to spend a lot of energy solving the Mystery of the Disappearing Man. But all those excuses, however valid they are, will not help you in the long run. Because the only part of that story that’s important to remember is that he didn’t want to be with you anymore. And he didn’t have the guts to tell you that to your face. Case closed.
Sometimes a person’s behavior is so abhorrent that it leaves little doubt as to what to do. The big mistake you made was choosing that person to begin with. The quickest way to rectify that mistake is by learning from that, moving on, and choosing much more wisely in the future. And quick, before any more of your precious time is wasted.
It’s So Simple
The reason it’s so painful when someone disappears is you have to face the fact that the person you lovedhad probably left you a long time before he grabbed his coat and scrammed. The hard part is realizing that he was lying to you, in some way, before the moment of vanishing. Don’t ask yourself what you did wrong or how you could have done it differently. Don’t waste your valuable heart and mind trying to figure out why he did what he did. Or thinking back on all the things he said, and wondering what was the truth and what was the lie. The only thing you need to know is that it’s really good news: He’s gone.
Hallelujah. See ya in the funny papers, yellow-belly!
Oh, for Pete’s sake. This one is impossible. He disappeared. He just stopped calling you or writing you or seeing you out of the blue. You were in what you considered some sort of “relationship.”
You felt that whatever you had together warranted even the tiniest explanation if one of you decided to call it quits.But instead, there’s silence. No explanation, no good-bye. Just a vanishing. There’s nothing worse, indating terms, nothing worse, than that sick feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when it looks likethe guy you were seeing or getting to know has decided to bail on you instead of talking to you about it.
Nothing worse.
So first you feel hurt. But then you feel helpless, completely and totally helpless. He just disappeared,making you feel like you had absolutely no value or meaning to him whatsoever.And you might be shocked, too. He might not have ever behaved this way before. So now you’re also unbelievably disappointed. “Really? Now I have to not like him? Now I have to think he’s a jerk?
That’s what this relationship added up to? There’s got to be some kind of reasonable explanation.” So then you start giving this great guy a big heap of your time and energy, making up excuses for why he’s disappeared (he’s busy, he’s busy…and maybe he’s busy), still hoping that he will come to his senses and at least drop you an e-mail.
You then start going through everything you said, did, or wrote that might have driven him away. What was the thing you said that was so inappropriate or needy, that he had no other
recourse than to head for the hills? You blame yourself for some perceived strategic misstep.
“Oh, if only I had played it better! He would still be mine!” Or simply, you’re worried that he’s dead on the street somewhere. Why else would he just disappear like that?
So then, you want to call him and say something. Or write him. You’re either angry or hurt, or still holding out hope that’s he’s in a coma at a hospital somewhere. But however you feel, you definitely think it is your right to either yell at him or find out what happened. What’s worse than not knowing?
Nothing. Except maybe not getting to tell him off.
Greg would say that the best revenge in this situation is not anger, but emotional distance, as quickly as possible. Greg would say that we have the answer. He didn’t want to stick around, and wasn’t man enough to tell us to our face. Isn’t that answer enough? That’s when I would say to Greg, “No, actually it’s not. That answer’s definitely not good enough. I want to know why.” And then Greg would say, “Really? Are you sure? Do you really need him to detail every last reason why he didn’t feel like seeing you ever again?”
I hate Greg.
Breakups are horrible. But to me, what’s truly devastating is to feel like you weren’t even worth a breakup. Again, it’s natural to want to do something about that. Greg just wants that “something” to be about moving on, as opposed to looking back. Not having closure is one of the most difficult things for me (and many people) to live with, so I know why it might be impossible not to call the cad.
But I guess Greg would lecture you again (he’s such a know-it-all), and say that before you make that phone call or write that e-mail, you should at least play it out in your head. Will it really make you feel better?
Do you think it will really change the way he feels about what he did, or you? Is it the only thing you can think of that will help you move on? If it is, then I say to hell with Greg—give the guy a call. But I guess the hope is (for me, at least) that when a guy no longer wants to communicate with me, and doesn’t have the manners or courage to tell me that to my face, he’s given me all the information I need.
It’s the toughestone of all to put into practice. But I definitely like the kind of girl who could do it. Good luck to us all!
IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE GREG
100% of men polled who had “disappeared” on a woman said that at the time they were completely aware of what a horrible thing they were doing, and no woman calling them up and talking to them would have changed that.
What You Should Have Learned in This Chapter
l He might be lying in the hospital with amnesia, but more likely he’s just not that into you.
l No answer is your answer.
l Don’t give him the chance to reject you again.
l Let his mother yell at him. You’re too busy.
l There’s no mystery—he’s gone and he wasn’t good enough for you.
//credit to he's just not that into you