It was hard, but you made it -- you're finally over the breakup. Even though you're glad to be out of the relationship, the breakup disrupted your life. You and your ex had shared so much of your lives. Your family and friends all loved you as a couple. But now it's over -- or is it?

One of the biggest obstacles to moving on after a break up is the people who love you. If your ex was popular with your family, you’re going to get a lot of questions and even more advice on how to get back together. If you're a woman, most of your older female relatives will assume you're trying to get him back. If you're a man, those older female relatives will be trying to get you connected to someone else.

They love you, and they want you to be happy. But they're not living your life. You can explain to them that you’re moving on after the breakup, and that you don’t appreciate constantly being reminded of your ex and the past relationship, but they'll still try to "help" you.

You see, the breakup disrupted more than just your life - it disrupted the lives of everyone who knew you as a couple. Your family and friends will need to break up, too -- not with you or your ex, but with the idea of you and your ex as a couple.

Sometimes this is difficult to deal with. They assumed you were happy with your ex, so they keep talking about them in the hopes that you’ll get back together. You'll have to be clear that you broke up, it's real, it happened, and you're moving on after the break up. Eventually they’ll come around because they’re your family and they love you.

It’s probably going to be harder to deal with when it comes to your friends. If the two of you hung out as a couple with the same group of people, it's going to feel strange to everyone to see you apart. They'll want to take sides, even if you don't want them to. Or they'll be so careful not to take sides, no one will speak to either of you. You and your ex might even run into each other, making moving on after the break up even harder.

You don't have to break up with all your friends, too. But it will be more difficult to maintain some of those friendships once the relationship is over. You may have to give up some of your mutual friends if they were closer to your ex than you. Just try to maintain good contact and relationships with those you’re closest to and allow your ex to do the same. While this can be painful, it’s probably easiest on everyone because they don’t have to choose which of you to be loyal to and which to avoid.

Sometimes moving on after a break up is just too difficult when you’re surrounded by mutual friends and so many places you all go together. If possible, go on a vacation to get away from the same scenery and people. Take a vacation with a friend who isn’t involved in the situation; maybe a friend of yours who wasn’t friends with your ex. This can help you get some perspective.

Take the time you need to rebuild your life without your ex. You deserve to be happy, and you will be.