[incognito]

This will probably sound stupid, lol, but, how do you help your ex cope with the breakup? I mean, let's assume I still love him, and I deeply regret the hurt I caused, and might hope for at least a somewhat civil friendship way, way down the line, or even a civil parting of the ways. I read here, I know that NC is the way to go. But, he thinks that if I do NC, meaning ignore his attempts at NC, then that means I must have never loved him in the first place. I don't want him to think that, we had something special, it's just time to move on now. And the best way I can do that is by NC at all. Since this doesn't work for him, he doesn't understand how I can do it. He thinks I never loved him at all! Has anyone ever explained NC to their ex, or tried to help them deal w/ things? I don't want to hurt him any further.

EDIT....for crying out loud the word help isn't allowed in a title??

[ReluctantRomeo]

That's really sweet. I've been in this situation too.

The best advice I can give is to explain that you're still really keen on him, and because of this you need to cut the contact for a bit. Say you need the time to get your head and heart straight. Obviously, if he has a really big emergency or something you'll be there for him, but otherwise you'll hook up again in a bit.

If you have mutual friends, ask them to check up on him from time to time.

Then contact him in a couple of months for coffee or something light.