A lot of people need time to recover from their divorce before they think about dating again. However, some throw themselves into relationships pretty quickly instead. While rebound relationships may provide short-term relief for people, they aren’t all that great in the long run. It’s important to understand what these relationships are, so you know why it’s best to avoid them…
Rebound Relationships: What Are They?
What it means
Rebound relationships are relationships formed soon after a previous breakup. This can include dating as well as divorce. While there’s no exact timeline, any kind of relationship formed pretty shortly after a breakup can be considered as a rebound.
People get into these relationships for a number of reasons. The most common reason is to try and get away from the pain of their last one by entering a new one. These people think that if they have a new, “better” relationship to focus on, it’ll stop the hurt from the last one. However, this ends up not always being the case.
The negatives
There are a few problems with rebound relationships. For starters, these relationships don’t allow you to take the time to heal from your last one. Instead, you’re hoping that the new one will make those problems “go away”. However, the truth is it just delays your healing process.
Also, your decision making won’t be at it’s best, which could cause you to enter a relationship you should avoid. Still, these rebounds tend to not cause any permanent harm. Ultimately, they’ll just make it harder for you to really begin healing and thriving post-divorce.
How to avoid them
The best way to avoid rebound relationships is to start working on yourself. First, it helps to focus on your own personal recovery. This can involve taking up new hobbies, seeing a counselor, whatever it is that helps you begin to heal. Once you’ve started that, then you’ll want to reflect on what happened and why, and how to avoid it in the future.
What many people struggle with is adapting to being alone. However, this isn’t a good reason to rush into a new relationship. Instead, try to get comfortable with being by yourself. Once you’re able to do that, then you think about adding someone new into the mix when you’re ready.