Broken-Heart Rx: The Internet
Sites like DearOldLove.com reveal how the Internet can help you cope with a breakup.
Web 2.0 may be the most cathartic thing to happen to breakups since a pimply middle schooler invented slam books.
Recently, we happened upon a charming little website called DearOldLove.com. The concept is very simple: Much in the way that PostSecret.com publishes postcards with people's deepest secrets written on them, DearOldLove posts small, poignant notes from people who have one last thing to say to that one old love. Under the guise of anonymity, it's surprising how much that is left unsaid between ex-lovers can find itself out in the open for all to read. Read: Ways To Let Go Of An Emotional Love Affair
Some of our favorites from DearOldLove.com (Brace yourselves, some of these are bummers):
• "I’d still like to go skydiving with you, only now it’s just an excuse to push you out of an airplane."
• "I will never forget how much you meant to me and how little I meant to you."
• "When your new hippie friends abandon you, I’ll be here waiting. With Taco Bell."
• "I would follow your Twitter through the very gates of Hell. (I think I already have.)"
• "Just because it was in a public restroom doesn’t mean that there wasn’t something there."
• "You say you’re lonely since I left. Not as lonely as I was when we were together."
Now that the Internet has grown into a two-way street full of anonymous drivers, it has become a means of therapy for some people with relationship frustrations and/or regret. Whether you turn those feelings into a full-on blog a la MyHusbandIsAnnoying.com or vent anonymously to an online community, the Internet is, for many, the new way to cope with everything from dirty socks to heartbreak. Read: When You Google Regrets
Given the overwhelming amounts of unrequited love and breakup angst on DearOldLove.com, we're kind of curious, what's been left unsaid between you and an ex?
Discussion
"To my ex: I guess that what they say is true: you don't miss the water until the well runs dry. I guess that's why you're always finding reasons to talk to me. It's sad, though. When I was there for you, you didn't appreciate me. When I tried to help you, you made me feel like my opinion was worthless. No matter what I did, it never seemed to be good enough. No matter what I said, whatever someone else said had more weight, even if they said the same thing that I did.
But, in spite of all that, I don't wish anything bad on you. I still want you to have whatever your heart desires. I want you to have every happiness that you can have in this life. I'm not bitter; I'm better. The time that I spent with you taught me that there is someone who will appreciate who I am, what I am about, and what I have to offer. I can be happy for you because, in a strange way, you prepared me for who I have in my life now.
I'm better than before because I have realized a depth of love within me that I didn't know existed. I'm better than before because she brings out the best in me. I'm better than before because she takes the time to notice the little things I do for her, and she appreciates them. I'm better than before because I know that this is the woman who God has sent into my life to marry.
As much as you hurt me, I've grown twice as much from it. As much as you've hurt me, I'm happier now than I've ever been. And, I can see that you're hurting twice as much as you've hurt me. If misery loves company, then I'll leave that room and stay as far away as I can."
