Love Letters Classics: How to do a breakup

As we come out of a holiday weekend, here’s one from the vault — from 2013. I still think about this question and its empathy.

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In 2026, as people ghost each other, end relationships through a DM on social media, etc., this one is nice to revisit.

For the record, in 2026, I might change my last piece of advice. Plane tickets are very expensive, and the economy is different.

Q. Dear Meredith and the LL readers/commenters,

There have been many discussions on this blog about breakups, but they seem to mostly be along the lines of whether a couple should break up and/or how to get over a breakup. My question is about breakup etiquette.

I have been both the breakup initiator and the one being broken up with, but for this discussion I am more interested in how to “properly” break up with someone. People say breakups should be done in person, but in some of my past breakups this almost seemed to cause more harm than good.

What if it is a long-distance relationship? Do you have your significant other drive/fly X number of hours to you just to break up with them in person? Or spend X number of hours and dollars to travel to them?

People also say you should avoid blindsiding someone with a breakup. How do you really continue a relationship if you behave in a manner that would indicate to your significant other that you aren’t happy? Or, if you tell your significant other that you have some doubts but want to see how things progress, how is he/she supposed to deal with that and move on in a constructive manner?

My current situation is that I am going to break up w my boyfriend of eight months. We have known each other for almost six years and he is 100 percent into this relationship — wants to move in together, get married, and live happily ever after. From the beginning, I was more reserved and said I wanted to take things slow and see what developed. There have been good times and bad with us, but for me, I don’t see it working out.

While I believe he knows I am on a different page, I don’t think he is expecting me to break up with him (here we go with the blindsiding). Do I wait a couple weeks to pull away a bit, explain that I am not sure what I want (even though I already know this isn’t working for me), if only to give him some adjustment time for what is coming? Or do I just have the talk with him now and break it off — thereby blindsiding him? I know it’s not nice to lead someone on when you already know the end is coming, but it’s not nice to pull the rug out from underneath a person either. I want to do the “right” thing, but the gray areas keep getting in my way.

BREAKER-UPPER IN MASS.

A. There’s no one perfect way to end a relationship. All you can do is be honest throughout the relationship.

Don’t tell someone you love them when you only like them a lot. Don’t let someone talk about marriage for 20 minutes if you know that’s never going to happen.

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And when it’s time to break up, make it a discussion. You can say, “After eight months, I’m sure this isn’t what I want for the future. I feel awful about that, but I need to be clear. I enjoy your company but I don’t want to waste your time.”

In a dream world he’d respond, “Wow. Thanks for that honesty. Let’s break up!” In the real world he’ll probably fight the breakup and come up with ideas to make things work, but if you continue to explain that you’re sure about how you feel, separating will become the only logical option.

I don’t believe in pulling the rug out from underneath anyone, but it’s hard to see the rug if you’re in love, even in the worst relationships. You say he understands that you’re not on the same page. That should be enough of a warning.

He’ll be upset, and you’ll probably feel like you did the breakup wrong. But unless you’ve been lying about your feelings for eight months, there is no wrong here. He might be angry and miserable and confused, but that doesn’t mean your protocol was off. Breakups are often terrible — just because they’re breakups.

For the record, I think casual long-distance relationships can be ended over the phone. If you’re ending a significant long-distance relationship, initiate the breakup discussion over the phone and continue talking in person. The breaker-upper should do the traveling and prepare to pay for an expensive, last-minute ticket home.

MEREDITH

READERS RESPOND:

The only etiquette rule is to treat the other person as a human being who has feelings.

BIGSIGH

What Meredith said … except I’m not sure about traveling for the break-up. That I think you’d have to play by ear.

PRCNWBRO

The long-distance part is a conundrum. You feel like a jerk if you do the breakup over the phone, but on the other hand, you get off the plane, she (or he) is excited to see you, and you know the bomb is ready to drop. I don’t know if there’s an easy answer, but the one time I was in that position I did make the trip, had the conversation, then turned right around and went home.

FINNFANN

Send your own relationship and dating questions to [email protected] or fill out this form. Catch new episodes of Meredith Goldstein’s “Love Letters” podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Column and comments are edited and reprinted from boston.com/loveletters.

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