How to Get Over Someone You See Every Day Without Losing It

Dating someone at the office seemed romantic and naughty, until you broke up. Here’s how to get over someone you see every day without losing it.

Remember when all your friends told you not to date the kid in your sociology class, or when your entire family told you dating the person from the office was a terrible idea? Well, they were right. Dealing with the heartache may seem difficult, but learning how to get over someone you see every day isn’t any easier.

Dating someone you see everyday seems like a great idea right up until the moment you break up. Now you’re forced to see them interact with other people while giving you the stink eye on a daily basis. Or worse, they start another relationship, and you have to watch it blossom with hateful envy for the next couple weeks. Basically, it’s the worst.

Getting over someone you love is hard on a good day. Learning how to get over someone you see everyday makes your job that much harder. After all, there’s no potential for distance. So, what do you do? Follow these eight tips on how to get over someone you see every day.

How to get over someone you see every day

When you’re at home or in the comfort of your inner circle, you feel good. You feel confident that the memory of your ex exists only in a fleeting fragment of time forever labeled: “LOL. What was I thinking?” That is… until you see them at work.

Seeing your ex on a daily basis brings back emotional baggage that umbrellas a number of different feelings. You may fall in love with them all over again or you may want to rip their eyeballs out and stomp on their new iPhone. It all depends on the day.

Point being, seeing your ex on a daily basis isn’t healthy. Here’s how to get over someone you see every day.

#1 Go through the grieving process—but do it privately. There are many stages of grieving you go through to get over a breakup. And while publicly humiliating your ex at your shared place of business might seem like one of them, it truly isn’t.

You’re meant to experience the grieving process and go through mind-numbing examinations of what went wrong. You’re allowed to feel hurt and guilt and sadness. Just, don’t do it at work. This is unprofessional. After all, you don’t want to lose your job as well as your partner, do you? [Read: Dealing with heartbreak: 12 steps to do it the right way]

#2 Anticipate the worst. This may sound cynical, but imagining the worst scenarios that might happen between you and your ex may help you decide in advance how to deal with them. From the meager to the mighty, what would you do if these scenarios come up in public?

– You run into your ex in an elevator.
– You get into a fight with your ex at work.
– You have breakup sex with your ex at work.
– You cry over your ex at work.
– You and your ex try and hurt one another emotionally/physically at work.
– Your ex starts dating someone else you see every day.
– Your ex won’t speak to you or acknowledge you in public.

Facing these potential realities gives you the time to consider how to handle them if they come up. Pro tip? Never have breakup sex with your ex, especially not in a public environment. [Read: Sex with your ex – When it’s okay and when you HAVE to stay clear]

#3 Keep it professional. You don’t want to be the girl that has a jealous meltdown in the break room or the guy who sends mean texts right before your ex is about to head into an exam. Okay, maybe you *want* to be that person—but don’t.

Keep it professional when you’re at work. Your colleagues, boss, and ex all silently thank you for your maturity. [Read: 15 very effective rules to forget someone you once cared for]

#4 Don’t make people choose sides. That’s what friends are for—not colleagues! Besides, you’re not 15 anymore. There’s no reason to play the “You’re not allowed to talk to themm anymore!” game with the people in your social circle. Avoid childish gossiping and set the standard for your co-workers or fellow students to follow by being cordial to your ex.

#5 Don’t be too nice. You’re adulting. You got this. You’re being super cordial with your ex to avoid those awkward silences. You treat them just like you treat the guy who takes a million smoke breaks or the woman who drinks milk every day at lunchtime. Polite, but not too close.

Just make sure you’re not being too cordial. You don’t want anyone to get the idea that you’re still into this person or are being fake-nice. They mustn’t see through your ruse. [Read: 14 things to keep in mind when you bump into your ex]

#6 Get an after-work hobby. Let’s face it, your job takes up the majority of your time each day. This makes it that much harder when you now have to spend the majority of your day with someone you’d rather not see again in your lifetime. For this reason, it’s good to find a new hobby that you do every day after work.

This gives you something to look forward to after a long day. It’s also good to know that if you’re having a frustrating day, you’ll be able to blow off steam later. Join a fitness class, take up archery, or join a sports team. Whatever your fancy, you’ll love knowing there was more to your day than staring at your ex while you work.

#7 Get a new job. It may be a little extreme, but if being around your ex all day long stunts your emotional growth, your best bet may be to look for employment elsewhere. You could also ask your super cool boss if you to be transferred.

If you’re going to university with your ex and sitting far away from them in class isn’t enough, try asking your professor to switch you to a night class instead. [Read: How to move on and deal with a break up with a smile]

#8 Don’t do it again. Most breakups cause heartache, confusion, anger, discomfort, and a newfound appreciation for overanalyzing situations. This pain seems to be magnified when you have to continue to see this person every single day. There’s no escape! May this office breakup teach you the important lesson of never starting up a workplace romance again.

[Read: What you need to do when a relationship with a coworker ends]

Breakups suck hard on a good day. On a bad day, you still have to work with that person—ouch. No one said it was going to be easy, but with these little steps, you can learn how to get over someone you see every day, slowly and surely.

The post How to Get Over Someone You See Every Day Without Losing It is the original content of LovePanky - Your Guide to Better Love and Relationships.