I've been thinking about this a lot the last few days.. Ok.. So a few months ago me and my ex ended our relationship of 3 years. The last few weeks of the relationship were depressing as we mostly fought or didn't talk, and I spent Saturday dealing with the initial sadness of our break-up. Despite the gloominess of the situation, my Ex texted me today saying she wants to stay friends.

My problem is, I don't know how long this whole grieving process goes on for.

It hurts, because I have a bond with this person and built my life around them. I will always love her, even if I don't have her anymore. But at the same time, I don't know the appropriate way to deal with any of this since I've never been in other relationships before.

She told me that she's heard from other sources that the appropriate amount of time to wait is about half of the length of time for which you were in the relationship - or in my case, 3 years. My Ex and I both disagree with those guidelines. But she told me she isn't even thinking about other people right now, and might not for a long time. I'm not sure what I feel - I do need time to process things, and I have a lot of problems which probably contributed to the failure of my relationship. At the same time, I am young yet and really don't see the point in wasting a lot of my time ignoring opportunities.

I'm not even sure what it is that I want next. Whether it's flings or a new relationship. But I have given some thought to asking certain women who I encounter in my day-to-day life when I go out for dinner or to the mall, and then just getting to know them and seeing if it goes anywhere from there.

Since I'm not very bold, and this relationship I just ended was a pretty heavy one, I guess I'd like to ease into things and not just rush right into a new relationship. But I'm not sure how to go about things. Is it wrong to even consider asking one of these ladies out on a date, even if it isn't necessarily going to lead to anything more yet? Or is it really just waaaay too early?

I'd just like to hear some thoughts from everyone on TTG. Surely some of you can share your own past experiences with determining when the right time is to start dating again.
Thanks to everyone who actually gives me some advice. Please no hate.

~ GS9