How do you forget someone when everthing in life reminds you of them?

Get new friends.

Take on a big challenge.

For some people, it’s moving away. For others, it’s diving into work. Short-term, rebound relationships help sometimes.

It’s tough.

You just have to give it some time. When I had a friendship of long standing end, it literally took me years (about three) before I could think of that person without pain.

The pain lessened over time.

Also, I was not satisfied with how things had ended. I made sure that I got the closure I needed. That it ended on terms I was comfortable with. That helped.

It will take awhile, but if you distract yourself with new things – new people, new places, a new hobby or job, etc., etc. – you’ll find yourself thinking of them less and less. Instead of trying to constantly suppress it, allow yourself time to remember things, good and bad, but only for a short period of time, and only periodically. After that, keep on living.

There are two techniques you can use to help put something in the past. You can’t make yourself forget, what you are trying to do is stop making so many associations.

1. Tell yourself “stop.” Literally. Each time you make one of the unwanted associations, say in your head “Stop that. I don’t want to think about that now.”

2. Immerse yourself in something else. Keep busy. Occupy your mind with something that takes all your attention, so you start to lay some new memories on top of these older ones.

Go on vacation to a new and exciting place. “Make love in a hammock.”

People, places, and things in life are not capable of giving you emotions – it is only your internalization of those things that cause grief. If you see something that you associate with that other person, work on distracting yourself and pushing the thoughts out of your mind. Thoughts cause emotion, and you have the ability to create or ignore thoughts.

Nothing. Live with it, soon it will fade away.
And soon can mean years. So like I said get use to it.

@PerryDolia sloppy giggly sex in a hammock?

Time heals all wounds…in my personal experience this is true… however, more often than not it takes a freekin’ lot of time.

Cherish the good feelings and memories because you’ll never have that mortal time back. Let yourself attune to those good points in order to more easily recognize them in others that may come along. You never know how long you’ll have someone in your life and it hurts so badly to have to give them up or see them go or whatever but at least your mind and heart learned of some beautiful things to lead you to more and the odds really are against you not having some more of that good stuff.

You won’t. I hope you find a similar friend who will last that will not have you go through this pain. Perhaps you will see how that person came into your life for a reason. Maybe to make you stronger and more valuable to a new friend who will treat your right. Take care of yourself, I wish you well.

Time heals all wounds. Forgiveness removes all scars. Suffering makes you strong.

Maybe you need to forgive them, as hard as that is.

One thing you could try is not fighting it. When you get reminded, just note that you are being reminded in an “isn’t that interesting” kind of way. You’re probably not going to be able to stop it. If you live with it, you can learn to get along with it. It’s there. It hurts. It’s not going to kill you. You just kind of set it aside, in a box up on a shelf, and you catch a glimpse of it every so often, but mostly it’s not in front of your consciousness.

When I was depressed, I used to try to fight my ideas about how worthless I am. I couldn’t do it. So now, I just try to notice that I’m feeling worthless, and not be really attached to the idea of becoming worth anything. Whether I think I’m worthless or not, I can still live my life. Little changes in my life based on what I think of myself.

You can live your life whether you think about this person or not. Those thoughts are just a part of your life. The relationship was a part of your life. You were there, you were hurt, it still hurts, but that doesn’t have to keep you from living your life. Perhaps it already doesn’t keep you from living your life. Don’t worry about stopping the thoughts. That isn’t necessary, if you can allow yourself to have the thoughts and not really make them into something that is so important.

For me, it’s like just not thinking about something. If I think about it, I’ll make myself worse. So, when the thoughts come up, I notice them, but I don’t indulge myself in them. I just turn to other things, and gradually those thoughts recede until they come back. It’s a hell of a lot easier than fighting something I can never seem to beat.

I agree with @daloon for not fighting your feelings. There’s a reason even though it hurts so bad for us to go through the feelings in order to glean what was positive so we can remember that, add it to our inventory of things to keep an eye out for in the future and also reason through the hurt. Avoiding the feelings by drinking to pass out or taking drugs or focusing only on the sad parts just puts off the learning part, I’ve come to believe.