Relationships

Elite Daily's 'Gen Why' Shows How Confusing It Is To Break Up With Someone Around The Holidays

Elite Daily Video

I know holidays are meant to be the days that are merry and bright, but things don't always seem so merry or bright when you're lugging a dud relationship around with you. Seriously, how are you supposed to put up with exactly 1,000 other travelers during peak holiday travel times, weather that makes a single tear actually freeze while it's falling down your cheek, and your crazy Aunt Carol breathing down your neck about your future, on top of suffering through a miserable relationship? Huge party foul. However, while breaking up before the holidays seems like the perfect solution, I'd ditch that wolf-in-sheep's-clothing idea really fast if I were you. Why? Because breaking up around the holidays is literally the most confusing thing ever.

I mean, breaking up in the first place royally sucks, but doing it around the holidays really throws a wrench into things, especially if you're someone who dies a little bit inside every time you think about potentially hurting someone's feelings. I'm not trying to ruin anyone's holiday season, but I am trying to look out for numero uno (i.e. me), you feel me?

The latest episode of Elite Daily's original comedy series, Gen Why, details this confusing, yet entirely too relatable struggle, highlighting just a few of the reasons breakups around the holidays are pretty damn near impossible.

You risk ruining the mood of your partner's holiday season.

"There’s nothing worse than receiving a text or voicemail that says, 'Sorry, I’m not feeling it. I think we need a break.' Multiply it with the emotions of the holidays, and it hurts, big time," Julie Spira, online dating expert and founder of Cyber-Dating Expert, tells Elite Daily.

Listen, yes, the holidays can be stressful AF, but for the most part, they should be a time of joy and celebration. Presents! Family! Snow days! Eating yourself into an actual coma! How much better can it get? Well, throw a breakup into that equation, and your partner shoveling delicious holiday cookies into their mouth turns into them inhaling a pint of ice cream as they cry in a sad blanket burrito.

"When you break up with someone during the holidays, that image of curling up with them around the fireplace with big mugs of hot chocolate is crushed, and you are left to your own devices for the holidays," says Alessandra Conti, celebrity matchmaker at Matchmakers in the City.

It's harder to navigate holiday gatherings with mutual friends.

Having mutual friends with your partner is all fun and games when your relationship is running smoothly, but severing ties with your partner ahead of all your friends' holiday parties may cause some tension for you two, especially if everyone's expecting you guys to exchange saliva under some mistletoe. Even more, if you and your partner were planning on partying it up with your friends, they'll probably be pretty shocked (and high-key devastated) when their relationship and their opportunity to do a keg stand while wearing a Santa hat in front of their friends get thwarted.

"If you’ve already made plans with your SO for the holidays, they might be caught completely off-guard if the plans come to a complete halt, being replaced by a breakup," says Spira.

You have to deal with endless questions from your family.

Listen, if there's anything worse than your crazy Aunt Carol grilling you about why you're still single, it's your crazy Aunt Carol going on and on about how this person you low-key want to strangle half the time is the best thing to ever happen to you. As Spira says, "friends and family might ask direct questions of, 'So [are they] ’the one’ or ask you how serious your relationship is," which can be hard to deal with when you're sitting across from your partner laughing with your family, and you want to chuck a bread roll at their head.

So while you think a quick breakup right before the holidays might solve your relationship woes, think again. Remember, while it might immediately make you feel so much better, you might hit a couple of roadblocks (and an angry Aunt Carol) along the way.

Check out Gen Why's latest episode in its entirety below before you ditch your bae before Turkey Day: