While the details may differ, most breakups pretty much follow the five stages of grief — but with the added bonus of rebound sex, nacho-binges, and sexy mascara tears. To help you through your pain, The Bold Italic plotted out the process in eight perfectly executed graphs about the stages of breaking up.
If you were dumped, the most relevant chart might be the one that charts how your perception changes after a split. You told your friends the sex was meh and you never really laughed at the same things, and yet, your bruised ego convinces you the match of a lifetime just slipped away. Don't be fooled! The effects will wear off within 24-48 hours, or days, or even months if it was particularly rough.
If you were the dumper, you might be drawn to the pie chart that reveals what "you're better off without me" really means. It is a time-honored tradition to make yourself out to be a hideous leper when you want to get the hell away from someone, fast. This tactic also works to calm your former partner down when they're in rejection mode, too. Lucky for them, sometimes it turn out to be true.
Head over to The Bold Italic to check out the rest.
Images: Courtesy of Melissa Small and Cecilia Rabess for The Bold Italic
