Taking a break in a relationship

The Watermelon Sugar Salad Saga Comes to an End, Harry Styles & Olivia Wilde ‘Call It Quits’

Don’t worry Darling

Taking a break is a subtle way of saying, it’s over. I only have one LDR — long distance relationship and it ended badly. I won’t say, ‘don’t be in an LDR' as for some it works. I know people who have made it to the altar, a friend, and my niece.

But based on my experience, I will never do it again. But who knows, right?

Never say never.

My LDR started like any fairy tale, there was love and who wouldn’t be when you’re both aboard the love boat? From months of being together, seeing each other every day, to having a vacation together on the most beautiful island in the world, the Boracay, to promising each other that even if we won’t be together in our next contract, we would make it work.

Well, ship’s love is all that — a broken promise.

First, we were not passengers aboard the love boat, we were crewmembers and even if we were already in our mid-thirties, the man I fell in love with was a cheater who happened to like the old sailor’s tale — sex in every port.

Let’s just say, I tried to stay until I had to leave to save myself from drowning in a life of misery.

So, I get it if Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles decided to ‘take a break’ after two years of dating.

Harry Styles will bring his Love on Tour with Harry Styles around the globe. I don’t know how many months will he be away, and Olivia Wilde has a life outside of Harry, she has two kids, and a career as both an actor and director.

Love sucks.

Taking a break in a relationship

How long should a break in a relationship last?

The exact temporal parameters can vary from couple to couple, but 3 weeks apart is a good baseline to set. Why three weeks? “You need about a week to let your body and mind adjust to not being around someone that you’ve been in a relationship with,” says Farrell. “Then another week to sort out or identify your feelings or thoughts. And then you might need another week to actually figure out your plan.” — Excerpt, Should We Take a Break?

But first, the one who needs a break must be able to communicate it well to the other party. And if that conversation is hard to make, it is best to seek professional help, a relationship counselor, or even an objective common friend.

Taking a break should be just that, a break. Both parties need to understand that it is not a breakup.

In a report from People magazine, Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde Are ‘Taking a Break’ After Nearly 2 Years Together: Sources

“They’re still very close friends,” a source says of Styles and Wilde, who were first linked in January 2021 after working together on Don’t Worry Darling.

The controversial celebrity couple had come to an amicable decision to take a break, for the simple reason each one has work commitments, Harry has his tour and Olivia has film projects.

But since nothing would likely come from the couple themselves, we can only speculate the last few months have been hard on the couple. Why wouldn't it be, Don’t Worry Darling the movie they were promoting as director and actor has been an endless circus for the couple.

Olivia Wilde was portrayed as a woman who went for a younger man who happened to be one of the biggest pop stars, if not the new King of Pop a title his fans wanted to bestow on Harry Styles.

Unmarried but previously engaged to Jason Sudeikis, Olivia Wilde suddenly found herself easily making it to the Top 10 Most Hated Women in Hollywood.

A bad split up with Jason and a custody battle of their kids, add to that the rumored rift between her and the movie’s lead star Florence Pugh, a salacious tell-all interview by a former nanny, and the mixed reviews of Dont Worry Darling can take a toll on anybody.

Much more if you are dating Harry Styles, a young man, but mind you very much an adult with legions of fans who feel they have a say on who Harry dates or takes to bed, and you will also have a need to take a break.

And while neither Harry Styles nor Olivia Wilde has confirmed their relationship, they were seen kissing in public, and Olivia had gone to his concerts.

Styles, meanwhile, told Rolling Stone in August that he also wanted to keep his personal life under wraps.

“I’ve never talked about my life away from work publicly and found that it’s benefited me positively,” he told the outlet. “There’s always going to be a version of a narrative, and I think I just decided I wasn’t going to spend the time trying to correct it or redirect it in some way.” — Excerpt, Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde Are ‘Taking a Break’ After Nearly 2 Years Together: Sources

How much of a break is okay in a relationship?

Here’s the deal: You basically want a break to end before it becomes a full breakup. “A break could be any length of time, but past a point, it becomes a ‘breakup,’” says Dr. Steinberg. “If you don’t want it to be considered a ‘breakup,’ then the break shouldn’t be more than a season, or three months long.” — Excerpt, How Long Should a Relationship Break Be in Order to Serve Its Purpose?

A quick look at how long Harry Styles’s Love on Tour with Harry Styles will be on his official website and the tour dates extend all the way to the summer of 2023.

Again, taking a break for the couple does make sense.

Do breaks in relationships work?

In relationships, “taking a break” is a phrase used to describe what is typically meant to be a temporary separation. When your relationship feels like it’s going nowhere or you can’t quite figure out how to move forward, a break might seem like a great way to press pause while you figure out what comes next. To take a break in a relationship, you should:

1. Set a time limit for how long the break will last 2. Establish ground rules 3. Use the time to reflect on your relationship and goals 4. Decide on your next steps

Excerpt, Do Breaks in Relationships Work?

Final words

A breakup is sad, it is. But sometimes it is what people need to move forward.

As for Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde, who knows, taking a break from their relationship could be their best decision moving forward. Let us not forget this is Hollywood, where we can still dream of a happy ending.

Their time apart could help them miss each other, the watermelon sugar and the salad dressing, and a line borrowed from Harry Styles’s As It Was,

In this world, it’s just us.

Thank you for reading.

Sources:

Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde Are ‘Taking a Break’ After Nearly 2 Years Together: Sources

Should We Take a Break? 6 Tips for Hitting the Pause Button, According to Relationship Experts

Do Breaks in Relationships Work?

Here are some of my stories, all complimentary.

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