There was a informal study on peak breakup times on Facebook. It finds that there are more breakups right before major holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. The number of breakups also picks up right before Valentine's Day.
Why is that so?
I did a short survey on my readers to gather some insights on the reason of holiday breakups. Let's hear what they say:
Mike says, "I feel it might have something to do with end-of-the-year reflections or thoughts of everyone heading home for the holidays." Maybe it hit them that their girlfriend/boyfriend is not someone that they want to bring home to meet their family on Christmas. Pretending the relationship is working in front of family is emotionally straining. On top of that, breaking up after Christmas will get family members asking what went wrong because everything was looking good not long before.
" I think it is also a major milestone for the relationship. Spending major holidays together and meeting the parents means that you are making commitments to the relationship." Madeline says in her email to me, " If I feel the relationship is not going anywhere, it is better to make a clean break before holidays than giving false hope to the other party."
Gift giving is also an integral part of holidays. Some readers tell me that if they think that they are not happy in the relationship for quite a long time, they would rather end the relationship before holiday than go through the stress of thinking what gift to buy and spend hundreds of dollars on gifts for their girlfriend/boyfriend. Also, if your partner is very demanding and expects expensive gifts from you on Christmas/Valentines, it will put pressure on the relationship and cause it to end prematurely.
Some say that it is cruel to break up with someone right before holidays because holiday should be a happy and joyous occasion. However, is it not cruel to break up after holidays? There is no right or wrong time to break up with someone. It always hurts. On the bright side, you will be surrounded by family and friends during holidays. It might be easier to get through this rough time with the support and love from them.
