Cut off all communication with your ex, delete that person from social networks, not go to the places they frequented and not talk about your friends or friends of her or him (even if you die inside), are just some of the stages of zero contact for you to overcome a broken relationship or problematic. It is a fact that getting away from some people is a great step to maintain stable mental and emotional health.
If it is very difficult for you to cut the link with that ex-partner, in this Psychology-Online article, we will explain the 7 stages of zero contact and its characteristics. With this no contact rule, you will find a bit of calm, although at first it may be difficult for you to put this psychological strategy into practice.
Index
- What is zero contact
- Delete your social networks
- Don't ask him how he is
- Don't talk about him or her
- Avoid visiting places that bring back memories
- Change the intention of your thoughts
- Do not close yourself to meet other people
- Resist the distance and fill your free time
What is zero contact.
He zero contact is the firm decision of break all kind of relationship or contact with a person. It is usually used when a love relationship is breaking up or when you want to get away from someone who is very toxic. From a psychological point of view, it is a technique that aims to help you cope with a recent breakup to decide (with a cooler head) a future in your path.
Applying zero contact can be painful at first, since it involves incredible willpower. The goal of the strategy is to completely cut off communication and contact with the person in question, which This can include blocking phone numbers, avoiding social media, and not going to places or events where they can meet. The purpose of this is to protect yourself and create space to heal and recover.
By eliminating contact with the person who is no longer in our lives, we seek to recover emotional stability, rebuild self-esteem and establish healthy limits. Now that you know a little about what zero contact is, let's see one by one the main stages of this psychological method.
Delete your social networks.
It is usual that you want to be tempted to attract the attention of that person by uploading images to their social networks to wait for her reactions or "likes" or you may even want to make her jealous with some of her reel or story on Instagram. Do not fall in the trap! the only thing that you will achieve with that is to create a vicious circle from which you will not be able to get out so easily.
The smartest thing for your mental health is that remove that person from your social networks and that you go building new friendship relationships, that help you keep your mind busy on other things.
Don't ask her how she is.
Another of the stages of zero contact is Do not ask every moment about your ex, since that will not ease your sadness or pain. It is better that you try to avoid conversations where his name appears, because if you start asking Because of her things, her health or where he is, sooner or later, you will end up giving in to the desire to contact him.
Don't talk about him or her.
Do you want more tips on how to apply zero contact? Your family or people who know your ex may want to talk about it, getting over it, or the reasons why it broke up.
At those times, you should be very firm to run away from those issues and make it very clear that you have no interest in reliving the circumstances that occurred between the two of you.
Avoid visiting places that bring back memories.
The places they frequented, the parks they visited and even the beaches they visited are other things that you should avoid. In fact, it won't do you any good to go to those places again, because it will make you relive the memories of your relationship.
Thus, try not to visit those sites and not listening to his favorite songs. That is, give your mind and soul time to heal, as over time little by little your wounds will heal.
Change the intention of your thoughts.
Of course your mind will remember that person and will try to relive the moments you lived together. Well, change the intentional focus of your thoughts and immediately find something to entertain yourself, like reading a book, watching a funny TV show, going out to the park, or even checking TikTok for some funny videos.
Don't forget that you have the power to control your thoughts, but you must believe that you are capable of keeping your mind balanced to take the step you need towards calm and emotional sanity.
Don't close yourself off from meeting other people.
Another of the stages of zero contact is meet new people to keep you positive and to help you lead a new life full of good hopes.
You don't have to get involved in a new relationship right away, but if you want to turn the page calmly, don't close yourself off to new illusions. You can go out to the park, to the movies, to a pub or to places of healthy social relationships. In this way, you expand your social circle and can advance in your personal and love life. Here we explain How to make friends after a divorce.
Resist the distance and fill your free time.
Perhaps one of the most complicated stages of zero contact is resist the distance and not succumb to temptation to send a text message or make a phone call to the person in question. You must be clear from the beginning that you are going to go from one extreme to another. That is, you are going to go from being in contact with that person all the time, to not knowing anything about them.
When you start to ignore your ex again, you will see that you are going to start to free up that part of your brain that you had exclusively for memories of him. Besides, take advantage of your new freedom to plan activities and tasks that you like, which will help you keep your mind occupied with other things. Start exploring fun things or what you didn't dare to do and immerse yourself in a new world of emotions to focus on you
After all, things in this world happen for a reason. Go ahead and open up to new possibilities in your life. In this article you will find The most common errors of zero contact.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to The 7 stages of zero contact and its characteristics, we recommend that you enter our category of Feelings.
Bibliography
- Riso W. (2013) Practical guide to overcome emotional dependency. phronesis
- Rodriguez de Medina Quevedo, I. (2013). Emotional dependence in interpersonal relationships.
