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MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? - Romance - Nairaland

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MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by lexton(f): 8:05am On Apr 15, 2016
Once in a while, on a perfectly ordinary day, you busy yourself with the motions of your life, probably shopping at the mall or queuing for fuel or whatever it is you get busy with. You are there, in the simplicity of the life you have constructed for yourself post break up, when suddenly, without warning, you stumble into the ex. If you are lucky, the ex in question would have aged miserably or at least grown bald and pimpled. But if you are not, (and let’s face it, these things hardly travel with luck) the ex looks exactly the same, only this time, shinier, happy, like actually happy. Not that anyone should go about wishing some incurable disease upon their ex, but just generally chin fat here, some flabs there, anything that makes it harder for them to jet off with their stinking rich or super model replacement of you. #Haha

Jokes apart, stumbling into a part of your life you have left behind can be awkward. I would know because I still duck once in a while when I come upon an old classmate or acquaintance from a former life. I have never been sure what to say or how to play catch up with the latest version of people. So imagine where the person you are stumbling into happens to be someone you were once romantically involved with. Where do you start from? What do you say? And beyond being polite, what do you really do with an ex? Like what are the rules or boundaries when it comes to interacting with them? The question kind of crept into a conversation with my girlfriends. One person said past romantic relationships should be buried so deep, that you are never able to reach for it again. Another person thought it was mature and reasonable to stay friends.
So the debate went, complete closure or friend zone?

There was a time I would have opted for friend zone, a time I would have sang cheerily at the prospect of maintaining relationships with people for the sake of not knowing when you may need them. You know, the kind of cheesy, motivational punch line, network your way to the top kind of thing. Except that it doesn’t really work, not with relationships at least. Most people, post break up, (myself inclusive), insist on friendship with ulterior motive. There is always that silent intention, that unspoken hope that the ex will hang around long enough to see what an incredible mistake they have made in leaving you. And because wisdom is often the profit of time and experience, I have learned that keeping a person who wants nothing to do with you only prolongs inevitable heartache.

So, as of today, my stand is complete closure. This is easier said than done in the age of Instagram following, but still, I advocate complete closure, with certain exceptions if you are able to answer the following questions.

1. Where you friends first? If you had always been friends before getting intimate, then you are likely to revert back to being friends. Not that it’s easy, but its a scenario that makes it workable.

2. Is there a shared outcome of the relationship? Like a child or a business? Obviously, you have to stay connected one way or the other if the relationship produced a child. There is no excuse to keep a child away from one parent. Absolutely none.

3. Do you move in unavoidably similar circles? You have to agree, it will be ridiculous to remain sworn enemies who fight publicly and throw shades every other day if you both work in a similar industry or move around the same circle. You could save your colleagues the embarrassment and find a way to stay cordial. So friend zone, definitely.

4. Have you moved on? Not that moving on is this thing that is ever clearly defined. I know someone who in a four year relationship, continues to dream about his former girlfriend. So, if you are sure that you are completely over an ex, it might be okay to maintain a cordial friendship. But like I said, its a tricky thing, the mind and the heart often has its way around each other.

5. Has time passed? Because you never truly get over a relationship that has not been severed by time and distance. An ex who gives you distance, no matter how painful it seems initially, has done you the greatest favour. Take advantage. Only after distance and time can you forge ahead with friendship.

The list is not exhaustive, I’m sure there are other instances that makes it okay to stay friends with your ex. Though I think these kind of friendships should be heavily guarded. I think some parts of our lives should be left behind, so that we can truly embrace, without weight or burden, then endless possibilities of the future.

But I would love to get your opinion and learn. Is it okay to stay friends with an ex? Drop your answers in the comment section.
Source: http://the911blog..com/2016/04/must-answer-should-you-stay-friends.html
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by krak101(m): 8:07am On Apr 15, 2016
Lemme buy just a plot first
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by McCarlito(m): 8:08am On Apr 15, 2016
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by Smellymouth: 8:11am On Apr 15, 2016
No
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by delishpot: 8:15am On Apr 15, 2016
I want to build room and parlor on this plot
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by iPrevail(m): 8:34am On Apr 15, 2016
Depends on the nature of friendship we talking about here. Hi-hi friends... I don't mind.
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by Abbeyunique2(m): 8:39am On Apr 15, 2016
Capital NO, some things are better buried
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by SweetieConstie(f): 9:07am On Apr 15, 2016
Lol... I can remain friends with my ex, provided I'm comfortable about it!






I really don't see anything spurious in it.
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by Maxi112: 9:15am On Apr 15, 2016
yes I can

cause of my retirement benefits

1 Like

Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by Mushyhills(m): 9:20am On Apr 15, 2016
Dated and dated...
Buh when it ends
I just delete you from my life...
Not even your picure or number will survive deleting angry

1 Like

Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by 0ubenji(m): 10:02am On Apr 15, 2016
Abbeyunique2:
Capital NO, some things are better buried


that's indicative of a bitter separation bro

2 Likes

Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by Abbeyunique2(m): 10:14am On Apr 15, 2016
0ubenji:



that's indicative of a bitter separation bro
Lol bitter or not, she is called an ex because u guys aren't 2geda anymore, you are suppose to move on not remain best buddies. Believe when i say that ur mending heart would be broken again. so move on
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by 0ubenji(m): 10:14am On Apr 15, 2016
lexton:
Once in a while, on a perfectly ordinary day, you busy yourself with the motions of your life, probably shopping at the mall or queuing for fuel or whatever it is you get busy with. You are there, in the simplicity of the life you have constructed for yourself post break up, when suddenly, without warning, you stumble into the ex. If you are lucky, the ex in question would have aged miserably or at least grown bald and pimpled. But if you are not, (and let’s face it, these things hardly travel with luck) the ex looks exactly the same, only this time, shinier, happy, like actually happy. Not that anyone should go about wishing some incurable disease upon their ex, but just generally chin fat here, some flabs there, anything that makes it harder for them to jet off with their stinking rich or super model replacement of you. #Haha

Jokes apart, stumbling into a part of your life you have left behind can be awkward. I would know because I still duck once in a while when I come upon an old classmate or acquaintance from a former life. I have never been sure what to say or how to play catch up with the latest version of people. So imagine where the person you are stumbling into happens to be someone you were once romantically involved with. Where do you start from? What do you say? And beyond being polite, what do you really do with an ex? Like what are the rules or boundaries when it comes to interacting with them? The question kind of crept into a conversation with my girlfriends. One person said past romantic relationships should be buried so deep, that you are never able to reach for it again. Another person thought it was mature and reasonable to stay friends.
So the debate went, complete closure or friend zone?

There was a time I would have opted for friend zone, a time I would have sang cheerily at the prospect of maintaining relationships with people for the sake of not knowing when you may need them. You know, the kind of cheesy, motivational punch line, network your way to the top kind of thing. Except that it doesn’t really work, not with relationships at least. Most people, post break up, (myself inclusive), insist on friendship with ulterior motive. There is always that silent intention, that unspoken hope that the ex will hang around long enough to see what an incredible mistake they have made in leaving you. And because wisdom is often the profit of time and experience, I have learned that keeping a person who wants nothing to do with you only prolongs inevitable heartache.

So, as of today, my stand is complete closure. This is easier said than done in the age of Instagram following, but still, I advocate complete closure, with certain exceptions if you are able to answer the following questions.

1. Where you friends first? If you had always been friends before getting intimate, then you are likely to revert back to being friends. Not that it’s easy, but its a scenario that makes it workable.

2. Is there a shared outcome of the relationship? Like a child or a business? Obviously, you have to stay connected one way or the other if the relationship produced a child. There is no excuse to keep a child away from one parent. Absolutely none.

3. Do you move in unavoidably similar circles? You have to agree, it will be ridiculous to remain sworn enemies who fight publicly and throw shades every other day if you both work in a similar industry or move around the same circle. You could save your colleagues the embarrassment and find a way to stay cordial. So friend zone, definitely.

4. Have you moved on? Not that moving on is this thing that is ever clearly defined. I know someone who in a four year relationship, continues to dream about his former girlfriend. So, if you are sure that you are completely over an ex, it might be okay to maintain a cordial friendship. But like I said, its a tricky thing, the mind and the heart often has its way around each other.

5. Has time passed? Because you never truly get over a relationship that has not been severed by time and distance. An ex who gives you distance, no matter how painful it seems initially, has done you the greatest favour. Take advantage. Only after distance and time can you forge ahead with friendship.

The list is not exhaustive, I’m sure there are other instances that makes it okay to stay friends with your ex. Though I think these kind of friendships should be heavily guarded. I think some parts of our lives should be left behind, so that we can truly embrace, without weight or burden, then endless possibilities of the future.

But I would love to get your opinion and learn. Is it okay to stay friends with an ex? Drop your answers in the comment section.
Source: http://the911blog..com/2016/04/must-answer-should-you-stay-friends.html

I use item 5. To handle an 8yr relationship dat ended on dec. 30th 2010
She tried to maintain links between us both afterwards...I politely frustrated her attempts til she gv up
She hated me at 1st..now she understood wat favor I did her
She's happily married now to a guy she met 3yrs after she and I

I use numba 5. For ladies dat are unstable nd erstwile non-assertive
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by 0ubenji(m): 10:20am On Apr 15, 2016
Abbeyunique2:

Lol bitter or not, she is called an ex because u guys aren't 2geda anymore, you are suppose to move on not remain best buddies. Believe when i say that ur mending heart would be broken again. so move on

Nobody mentioned "best buddies"
We talkin of "friends"
A breakup precipitated by irreconciliable differences can use d "move on" button
Buh thr r oda grounds that can breed a breakup peacefully..this time, I call it MUTUAL SEPARATION as is the case with a 2yr relationshp I juz alighted from
Buh I recently started using OP's item 5 for reasons best known to me..tho we've been friends for months initially
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by Abbeyunique2(m): 10:30am On Apr 15, 2016
0ubenji:


Nobody mentioned "best buddies"
We talkin of "friends"
A breakup precipitated by irreconciliable differences can use d "move on" button
Buh thr r oda grounds that can breed a breakup peacefully..this time, I call it MUTUAL SEPARATION as is the case with a 2yr relationshp I juz alighted from
Buh I recently started using OP's item 5 for reasons best known to me..tho we've been friends for months initially
How do you feel when she relates with more handsome opposite sex? how does she feel vice versa, are you guys friend hoping u might get together?
**
I have Exes that we are just on speaking terms (with emphasis on speaking term). the word Friend is very strong and shouldn't be shouldn't be on the same sentence with "EX". "ore kini aja n ba ekun se".
Re: MUST ANSWER: Should You Stay Friends With Your Ex? by 0ubenji(m): 10:45am On Apr 15, 2016
Abbeyunique2:

How do you feel when she relates with more handsome opposite sex? how does she feel vice versa, are you guys friend hoping u might get together?
**
I have Exes that we are just on speaking terms (with emphasis on speaking term). the word Friend is very strong and shouldn't be shouldn't be on the same sentence with "EX". "ore kini aja n ba ekun se".

Egbon..wat ar u saying..?
Cnt u be friends wit someone u av neva even met at all?..in dis scenario ur friendship is also strictly on "speakin terms" remember?
So we sayin same tin mehn..speakin terms wit an ex is wah I mean nd it's called frienshp in every concievable perception of dis issue
only if d ex is som1 matured to handle d speakin terms well..if not..I use item 5 of the OP
Some exes are crazy tho..itz either datin or enemies..they are not ready for friendshp of wateva definition
Which takes me back to my favorite...OP's item 5..lol
Nd am sure u're one of the "dating or enemies" species

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