Dealing with a clingy ex is a sensitive situation because you don’t want to hurt their feelings more than you already have by dumping them. Well, I had to be the bad guy once and while it certainly wasn’t fun, it worked.

I told my boyfriend that I needed some space and wanted to take a break for a few months. He was obviously upset. I felt terrible, but he was smothering me. I was honest and told him I felt trapped and just needed to breathe for a while.

I expected not to hear much from him while we were apart for the summer, but I was wrong. Instead, I got regular texts and calls as if nothing had ever happened. That’s not space, bro!

I would take forever to respond or just give really short answers, but he kept on keeping on. His clingy behavior from our relationship seemed magnified during our breakup, and I couldn’t take it anymore.

One day when I felt particularly bothered, I just snapped.

I told him that I wasn’t kidding around and his chances of getting back together with that kind of behavior was absolutely zero. I said I wasn’t playing hard to get and that I did not want to speak to him at all.

Brutal honesty seemed to work in my favor because he listened and left me alone. It was hard telling someone that I cared about that I didn’t want to talk point-blank, but I felt even more smothered during the breakup than I did during our relationship.

I’m not a fan of being mean to exes. But being blunt is a totally different story. And it works just fine. I don’t think there’s a need to say “I hate you and never want to speak to you again,” but saying “I seriously don’t want to communicate at all,” gets your point across.

You can be the bad guy without actually being bad.

Have you ever dealt with a clingy ex? How did you get them to leave you alone? Did it work? Tell me in the comments!
 

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