Rediscovering Yourself After a Relationship: Who Were You Before "Us"?
There’s a strange kind of fog that rolls in after a breakup. Not just the obvious heartache or grief, but a deeper sense of disorientation — as if you've lost something more than just the relationship. For many of us, the hardest part of moving on isn’t letting go of the other person; it’s remembering who we were before the relationship ever began. When you’ve spent so much time being part of an “us,” it’s easy to forget what it felt like to be “just you.” I know this because I’ve been there. I woke up one day, long after the breakup, and realized that I couldn’t remember what made me me before the relationship. My interests, my routines, even the way I saw myself had become so wrapped up in the other person that I had no idea where they ended and I began. How It Happens: The Slow Disappearance of “You” This loss of identity doesn’t happen all at once. It’s gradual, like a slow unraveling. You compromise, you adjust, and before you know it, your decisions — big and small