January 2020. In March of the previous year, my long-term gf broke up with me and got with somebody else, but she still wanted to be friends. I foolishly went along with it, but I never liked it. 2019 was a very tough year for me. Eventually i wrote her a very long letter and told her that I can't be friends, and that I won't be talking to her again for a likely several years, maybe never again. After writing that letter and sending it, it was just a massive purge of tears, snot and emotion. The epitome of ugly crying, and I'll never forget just how much it accelerated the healing process. I spent nine months clinging on to some hopeless notion that as long as we're in contact, I'll be happier. Totally wrong. Within two weeks of finally severing that tie, I began to heal exponentially faster.

It's been two years and I've stayed true to my word. I've seen her in public since and she's also reached out to me at one point, but I haven't said a word to her since that day.