Whether you can be friends with your ex depends a lot on the kind of relationship that you and your ex had as well as the way that your relationship ended. The level of intimacy within your relationship has a lot to do with how long it will take for you to be friends, if ever. This includes both physical and emotional intimacy. After you have gotten so close to someone, it is actually easier to just no longer see him or her than to try to rewind and forget all the things you once shared. People tend not to remain good friends with their exes, not because it is too painful, but simply because it is too awkward.
It is definitely possible to remain acquaintances with an ex as long as there are no hard feelings from either of you. Obviously if you were in a relationship, then your lives are bound to overlap in some way or another, but seeing them from time to time does not necessarily mean that you should be friends. For starters, you both need to move on after the relationship has ended. Even if it ended on good terms, it is still a good idea to take some time away from each other so that you can get used to not being together anymore. You have no hope of being friends with an ex until you take some time and put some distance between yourselves. With that said, the chances of you being good friends with an ex are very slim. You can be friends, but you will probably never be able to confide in each other the way you did when you were in a romantic relationship.
If your relationship did not end on good terms, then it is most likely that you will never be friends. If one person's heart was broken, then there will always be a one-sided bitterness within your attempted friendship. You will get over one another at a different pace and it will only further infuriate the dumped person as he or she watches the dumper start to date again. To truly be friends with someone, you have to want the other person to be genuinely happy. This wish for happiness is unlikely to come from someone whose own happiness was just shattered.
When trying to enter the "friends" territory, just be careful of your own feelings as well as the other person's feelings. The last thing you want to do is leave the door open for getting back together by remaining friends. And if that is what you want, then clearly you aren't interested in just being friends with your ex and should probably be reading a different article.
Brooke Alexandria offers relationship advice for men and women of all ages, and in all stages of life. Regardless of if you are newly single, a dating veteran or married, you'll surely find useful tips to help you find love, navigate through your relationship and build stronger, long-lasting relationships. Follow Brooke on her journey through relationships at http://truth-about-relationships.blogspot.com.