A.Dear Antonio,

Breaking up is painful. I’m sure you are asking, ‘will the pain ever go away?’ The answer is yes, but you never forget your first break up. I assume this is your first. At least the first one that really stings.
     
A few pointers for your recovery:
     
A. Don’t stalk her. Don’t ‘bump into her’ at school, at her job, or when she happens to be coming out of her health club. Limit your contact with her. It will be better for her and for you.
     
B. Don’t try to pretend it’s the same. Your relationship will have to be different. It’s usually too painful to go back to the pre-girlfriend stage when you were ‘just friends’, especially if you have logged some serious emotional and physical bonding. You might be able to hang out with her in a group, but it will be different.
     
C. Don’t hold out for getting back together. Live in reality. Don’t get into the craziness of the flip-flop, back and forth, saga of back-together-again relationships. The drama can be very damaging. She broke up with you. It’s probably not gonna happen. So join the real world and see that as a chapter in your life that is likely over now.
     
D. Embrace the good with the bad. Remember the good times and be grateful for those. You had a good run, especially for a sixteen year-old. Take it for what its worth. You had some good times. Hey, you beat the odds. Most people graduate high school without ONE date!
     
E. Reprogram your brain on some positive stuff. Get your head out of the life sucks cuz I don’t have a girlfriend deal. Think about good things like friends, family, your hobbies or sports or the thousands of other girls around you. Plenty of fish in the sea.
     
F. Take time to discover who you are as an individual. What do you like and dislike? What are your hopes, dreams, talents and worries? Note to self: Life does not depend on who you go out with.

Ally