Breakups always hurt, but what if you see signs your ex is not over you?
Most couples pretend that they’ve moved on after a breakup, but have they really?
If you see the signs your ex is not over you, he’s far from moving on… In fact, he might be hoping to get back together with you more than you think.
Most of the time though, exes don’t want to directly tell you that they want you back. Instead, they’ll engage in certain behavior around you.
He wants you to think that he’s over you, but he can’t hide the truth so easily. His actions will speak that which he is afraid to put into words.
These signs your ex is not over you will reveal the truth. Even if he doesn’t want you to know that he still cares, it will show.
Maybe he broke up with you and his pride and guilt are not letting him tell you the truth – that he still loves you. You shouldn’t just jump right into his arms if he does though.
Maybe you want him back, but do you want all the things that ended your relationship back too? The problems you had didn’t disappear and he’s probably the same person he was while you were together.
Before thinking about getting back together with him, you should make sure that things aren’t going to be the same again – even if there are signs your ex isn’t over you, maybe you’re not meant to be together.
Perhaps he knows that and is trying to move on, but is failing because he still cares about you.
Love sometimes isn’t enough though, and you should both think about what you really want.
Just because getting back together is an option doesn’t mean that it’s a good one. After all, you don’t want things to end all over again and to go through the pain of heartbreak once more.
Maybe you’re instead just wondering whether he has managed to move on. Does he still think about you?
If he ever truly loved you, you are still important to him. He may not care as he used to, but you were a part of his life that can’t be erased.
Should you move on or wait for him to come back? Well, that’s up to you, but always think twice before letting someone back into your life after they’ve hurt you.
For now, find out whether he managed to move on by reading these signs your ex is not over you.
26 signs your ex is not over you
1. He still likes to keep in touch with you
Normally, people want to start fresh after a breakup. They don’t usually stay in touch because they want to avoid awkward moments and cut all ties.
After a relationship, most exes don’t talk to each other at all, at least for a certain amount of time. But your ex still reaches out and wants to stay in touch.
If he still calls and texts you on regular basis, you’re not acting like exes. You’re still acting like a couple and there are things left unsaid.
Maybe he loves you or just wants to mess with your head, but either way, he’s sure not over you.
2. He wants to stay friends and always has time when you need him
If your ex still wants to be friends, he’s not really ready to let you go and accept the loss.
People often say that they want to stay friends when they break up with someone, but on rare occasions are they’re being sincere. They would like to stay friends and mean it, but we all know that staying friends with an ex is painful.
If you stay friends, your relationship isn’t over, it’s just a different kind of relationship. That can be confusing and too emotional for couples who had a romantic relationship before becoming merely friends.
Does he always make time to see you and talk to you? If he still wants to hang out with you after breaking up, he’s not over you.
3. He’s dating someone who looks like you
Have you noticed that your ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend looks a lot like you? Well, it’s one of the subtle signs your ex is not over you.
He realized what he has lost and now wants to find it again in someone else.
And if he can’t be with you, he’ll be with someone just like you. Clearly, that proves that he hasn’t moved on yet.
4. He has strong emotions toward you
Every strong emotion he expressed as a reaction to the ending of your relationship is a sign of love.
Yes, even if he expressed hate, anger, or deep sadness, these emotions came from caring about you.
The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference, and your ex is clearly not indifferent. His strong emotions are a sign of how much he cares about you.
A lot of times, an ex will be incredibly angry at you but eventually admit that they still care.
Anger is a strong emotion that most often masks hurt feelings. So just because your ex is upset at you doesn’t necessarily mean he’s over you.
5. He looks at you the same way as he did before
You know that look he used to give you that made you feel his love, even though you couldn’t explain why? Well, if he still looks at you that way, he clearly hasn’t moved on.
You can tell that he still sees you as the girl he fell in love with.
When he looks at you, there’s a twinkle in his eye and he makes intense eye contact. You can’t look at him for a long time without feeling awkward because you can feel his love.
If together with this he smiles at everything you do as if he’s seeing it for the first time, he certainly still loves you.
6. He’s talking about you
Your ex seems to constantly bring up your name in any conversation. Not just that, his entire social media profile seems to be about you.
He posts sad songs and quotes to show you that he misses you. Whenever someone mentions you, he turns all ears and soaks in every word they say.
Your ex is showing signs he is not over you yet and might not want to be over you to begin with.
7. He wants to talk about the breakup
Maybe you’ve made your peace with the breakup, but he keeps bringing it up. He constantly wants to rehash the reasons for the two of you splitting.
You get texts from him that are nothing but his attempt at explaining why he broke up with you.
Even when it makes no sense, he mentions the breakup because he’s not over you. Maybe he even jokes about hooking up again.
You’re obviously on his mind, whether he likes it or not.
8. He asks your mutual friends about you
Your mutual friends have heard a lot about you lately because he keeps asking them what you’ve been up to. He mentions you even in conversations that have nothing to do with you.
Your mutual friends are forced to answer his questions about how you’re doing and whether you’re seeing someone new. He wants to find out more about your accomplishments because he can’t believe how good you are doing without him.
He is still interested in you and anything that happens in your life. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t even try to hide it.
If you don’t want to get back together with him, you’re probably annoyed by talking to him through your mutual friends.
9. He hasn’t started dating again yet
Maybe he has trouble moving on and can’t start dating yet. It’s one of the clear signs your ex is not over you, no matter how much wants to be.
He isn’t ready to start fresh and commit to someone else because he’s still keeping you in his heart.
Getting over you seems the hardest thing he ever had to do. He doesn’t have a girlfriend because he still isn’t ready to accept that your relationship is over.
If you’re not interested in him anymore, you should make that clear so that he can move on. For now, he’s probably still trying to get over you – and not doing a great job of it.
10. His friends try to get you to see him or at least talk to him
If anyone knows how he truly feels about you, it’s his friends. He’s probably talking to them about you and they know he misses you.
Most likely, they’ll try to drop hints that your ex is not over over you and is still thinking about you.
His friends will try to get you back together with him if they see he wants you back. They don’t want to hear him moan about how he misses you, so they’ll intervene in an attempt to make him happy again.
11. He keeps the gifts you gave him
It can be pretty awkward when he still wears the special necklace he got as a gift from you. Maybe he still wears the T-shirt you bought him when you first met because you spilled coffee on the one he was wearing.
It could be anything, but the point is that he’s not keeping the gifts he got from you just because they’re good gifts. To him, they have a huge sentimental value and he’s not ready to say goodbye to them – or to you, for that matter.
He still treasures something that meant a lot to him while you were together. Since he can’t hold on to you anymore, he holds on to anything that’s left of you in his life.
12. His girlfriend can’t stand you
If his new girlfriend really hates you, she probably knows that your ex hasn’t moved on yet.
She’s probably heard a lot about you and knows how much you meant to him. It hurts her so she can’t stand you and, quite frankly, she’s a little scared that you’ll take him away from her.
Why would she think that if something he said hasn’t given her a reason to think that he’d choose you over her?
She’s jealous and doesn’t want you to interfere now that she’s with him.
13. He wants to know whether you’re seeing someone new
Your love life seems to interest him more than anything else since the breakup. Are you dating someone new? Will you soon get involved with someone else?
These questions are killing him because he’s not ready to see you with another man.
If he knows that you’re with someone already, he’ll keep mentioning it.
This is how most exes feel, so on its own, it might not necessarily be a sign your ex is not over you yet. However, if he acts competitive and makes weird comments regarding your new partner, he’s still into you.
14. He keeps in touch with all your close friends
As you already know, most exes cut all ties after the breakup. It makes it easier for them to move on.
Your ex doesn’t seem to be ready or willing to move on though.
He keeps in touch with all your close friends in the hope to stay a part of your life. Maybe he’s just doing it to get the latest info on what you’ve been up to.
If he never liked your close friends that much but suddenly they’re his friends too, he definitely wants you back.
15. He’s changed something about himself
Being single again after a serious relationship can be extremely difficult. Exes often feel the need to change something about themselves to make it easier to turn over a new leaf.
Your ex might be trying to change his personality or his appearance.
Maybe he’s going out too much or has drastically changed the way he looks. If so, he’s definitely not over you yet and is still trying to move on.
He’s currently feeling confused and he can’t think rationally.
His friends might let you know that he’s not himself lately, but don’t try to save him. If you don’t care about him anymore, don’t show concern because he could interpret it as a romantic interest.
16. He’s been clubbing and drinking a lot
Many people try to cure heartbreak with drinking and excessive clubbing.
If your ex has been drinking a lot since the breakup and it’s not something he usually does, he’s trying to forget you.
Also, going out too often is not how a healed man acts. It’s just one of the signs he is not over you yet.
17. He drunk dials you
Does your ex call you at odd hours yet can’t even construct a decent sentence? Maybe he instead texts you whenever he goes out and confesses things he never told you before.
If he drunk dials you, he still cares about you and needs you to keep taking care of him. In addition, he’s probably hiding some feelings toward you that will come to the surface eventually.
If you don’t want to get back together with him, let him know the following morning. Be gentle on him, but make it perfectly clear that it’s over if you don’t care about him anymore.
18. He can’t act normal when you’re around
When two people spend so much time regularly showing affection to each other, it’s very painful and shocking when it stops.
Maybe your ex can’t even act normal when you’re around. Even months and years after the relationship ended, he still acts awkwardly around you.
It only serves as proof that he’s not over you and knows that you could never be “just friends.”
19. He’s always there for you
Whenever you’re sad, he wants to be your shoulder to cry on. If something bad happens, he’s the first person to ask whether you’re okay.
Your ex might become the first person you call whenever you’re going through something. But if you don’t want to get back together with him, that needs to stop.
Just because he’s still willing to be there for you doesn’t mean that you’re destined to be together. Yes, he’s not over you, but if you’re over him you should let him move on.
Maybe he’s dating someone else already and it hurts, but if you don’t want to date him, don’t allow him to keep coming back to you.
20. He still keeps in touch with your family members
When your ex is trying to make a comeback, he’ll keep contact with your family.
He still wants to act like he is a part of your world and your closest circle. This can cause a lot of awkward situations, but the bottom line is he’s definitely not over you.
It’s not like your ex should ignore your family members or be rude to them, but it’s weird if he’s overly friendly.
Acting like he’s close to your family even though you broke up is a clear sign that he wants to get back into your life and win you over again.
21. He doesn’t want to let you move on
Eventually, you’ll want to start dating someone new, but what if your ex has a problem with that?
If he’s preventing you from moving on, he’s not over you and doesn’t want you to be over him either.
He can’t stop you from dating another man and he has no say in when and who you will date. That needs to be perfectly clear to him before he starts chasing off your potential boyfriends.
22. He’s in denial
Instead of accepting reality, he still thinks that you’re interested in getting back together. Maybe he even tells everyone that you desperately want him back.
You’re over him but he can’t accept it because he’s not over you.
Just ignore his lies and don’t let him get involved in your life.
Don’t give him any mixed signals that he could interpret as a desire to get back together with him. He’ll just keep lying to himself and others, so make it perfectly clear that you’re done with him.
23. He wants to spend all of his free time with you
Your ex keeps coming up with excuses just to see you. It’s one of the signs your ex-boyfriend is acting like he’s over you but actually wants you back.
Maybe he’s asking to see you so that he can return some items of yours that you don’t even want.
He always texts you to ask when you’re available to see him. And meeting so much after a breakup can just leave him confused.
If you don’t want to get back together with him, stop seeing him altogether.
24. He reminisces about the past
Your ex loves thinking about the good old days you spent together and wants to remind you of them. If this is the case, he might be trying to get you to come back to him, as the memories you shared are precious to him and he can’t get over you.
Don’t let him make you forget about the bad times, though!
Instead of being nostalgic, try to see your relationship objectively. Don’t ignore the problems you had.
25. He’s apologized to you
When your ex starts apologizing for his mistakes, it might leave you confused.
It could mean that he has matured and moved past the issues you’ve had. He might just be trying to clear his conscience.
On the other hand, he might be trying to get you to give him another chance.
Either way, he hasn’t moved on yet and it’s your call whether or not to accept his apology.
26. He’s flirting with you
This has got to be one of the biggest signs your ex is not over you. He’s looking for another chance and does so by flirting, teasing, and dishing out compliments.
Maybe he even gives you a hug that lasts a bit longer than it’s supposed to.
He’s not over you, and now it’s up to you to decide whether giving him a second chance is worth the risk.
Stay strong!