Me [21 M] with my unrequited crush [20 M] of 1 year: I found out he has a girlfriend and I'm not handling it well.

Recently a study has found that emotional pain and regular pain can be found in similar areas. So you might take a Tylenol and see if that helps you feel better.

In regards to Crush and his Girlfriend. I think you should have a friend come over and practice what you want to say to him. I know it might sound silly, but role playing can help you get confidence. I do it before big projects or interviews. I also find writing out what I want to say, down to even the most pathetic bits (that I would never share), then deleting it before I send it helps a lot. Even looking in the mirror and spilling your heart out might help.

You need to approach this topic a lot this week and feel free to cry about it. Chat it out with someone on a hotline or random chat. Just make sure you don't come off as crazy and go off on him for hiding his girlfriend from you. He doesn't owe you an explanation and you need to respect that he doesn't want to deal with your emotional baggage. Which is hard to deal with, but you need to keep this sort of thing to a friend who will not go off gossiping about how you are torn up about Crush.

In the end, you have to accept inside that just because he does not like you romantically does not mean you are unworthy or stupid. You can hurt just like any straight person. You can be upset by this. Just do not let it eat away at you.

When you do see him, I would ask to speak with him outside and just say something very simple. "I know we have not been close for awhile, but I do value our friendship and like working in class with you. I heard you had a girlfriend and I wanted to say I am happy for you. I just needed to say something because I know we had an awkward discussion in the past."

When you finish speaking with him, don't bring her up again. If he says something about her and you feel a little ping of pain, take out a small notebook or piece of paper and make a tally. Do this throughout the day. At the end of the day, count the tallies and record the number in some sort of journal. Do this everyday until the number of times you are hurting has gone under ten. When that happens, count out the tallies and each one should have a monetary amount given to it, be it a quarter or a dollar.

Then put that money towards a reward for yourself, a new outfit, haircut, even a small vacation.

/r/relationships Thread