This is how you remind me...

Being the victim of an un-engineered dumping in a long term relationship gives rise to an interesting and not altogether welcome phenomenon - that of being constantly reminded of your former amour!

First and foremost, his/her family and friends seem to come out of the woodwork like zombies in Dawn of the Dead. You can't venture to the pub/club/gym/shop/street/restaurant/bins without bumping into one of former partner's circle and getting the "poor loser" look. For a man, the ultimate kick in the cajones is when you bump into your former flame with her new hero in tow (despite her having said that she needed time on her own/to find herself, of course!). The only ways to avoid the loser look are:

• Emigrate/go on a long holiday.
• Don't leave the house. This is easier to do now with the Internet and services like moviestar.ie and Tesco home delivery!
• Get a rebound partner as soon as possible or hire one for public appearances!
  

As if that wasn't bad enough, almost anything in the environment can also trigger memories of your former love, depending on your level of devastation. It might be the postman's aftershave being the same as his, seeing her favourite cereal in the supermarket or spotting someone with an iPod just like his/hers.

The bad news is that in the early post-dumping phase, these reminders are everywhere and unavoidable. The good news is that with time (and possibly counselling), these reminders recede and your pining decreases. Finally, you can get out of the sweat pants, put the ice cream back in the freezer and get back up on that horse! This can be seen in the diagram above, which is the graphical representation of the old chestnut "time is a great healer".