Heal From A Love Letdown
Cosmopolitan|July 2017

NOBODY’S PERFECT...NOT EVEN YOUR PARTNER. WHEN DISAPPOINTMENT IS BUMMING YOU OUT, TAKE THESE STEPS TO RESET.

Esther Perel
Heal From A Love Letdown

The person you’ve been seeing didn’t show at your birthday party— after promising up and down that it was on the calendar. Or you recently found out that your significant other has been secretly in touch with an ex. Such mess-ups aren’t necessarily relationship ending, but they can continue to cause you distress, even after you receive a heartfelt apology. Why?

It may be because you’re under 35 and part of what I call the disappointment generation. Love has become a major source of self-worth for young people, so when you’re faced with a relationship setback, even a minor one, you can feel it more deeply and personally than previous generations did. At the same time, millennials have been taught to think that anything is possible—so you may really believe in romantic fairy tales or that you’re destined to be with The One. With this mind-set, it’s not so easy simply to say, “Okay, ___ made a mistake. That’s all right.” It can feel like your entire bond is demolished with just a single miscommunication.

This story is from the July 2017 edition of Cosmopolitan.

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This story is from the July 2017 edition of Cosmopolitan.

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