A Definitive Ranking Of All The Breakups You Experience In Your 20s

If you've ever had your heart broken before, or had to break someone's heart whom you cared deeply about, you know both experiences never come easy.

Sure, there are many articles floating around on how to recover from heartbreak… but it's a lot more difficult to pick yourself up and move on when you're going through it IRL.

Until it happens to you, you're kind of in denial.

All the advice you want post-breakup is from your good pals Ben & Jerry — they always know how to cheer you up, if only for a little bit.

You can tell yourself everything is going to be OK all you want, the pain will still be there. You need to give yourself time for the wounds to heal before putting yourself back out there in the playing field.

There are some breakups that are harder to cope with than others. Here is the definitive ranking of them, from worst to easiest.

1. The cheating breakup.

This is possibly the worst kind of split you may ever have to endure. It hurts even more if you believe things are going perfectly, and you're blindsided.

Finding out your partner cheated can cut like the sharpest spade. You were betrayed by your best friend in the whole world — and that in itself will leave a permanent scar on your heart.

2. The best friend breakup.

There's no easy way to go about cutting ties with a toxic friend who's been a key part of your life since day one. It's disappointing, but you gave that person one too many chances, and they failed you each time.

Although you're taking charge of your life and removing this person from it for the better, it's still beyond sad things turned out the way they did in the end.

3. The co-worker breakup.

Ending a relationship with a co-worker can be super tricky because you'll still see that person on a daily basis. It's a daily reminder of what you used to have, and what isn't yours anymore.

Seeing them every single day may become unbearable, so much that you want to change your job.

4. The high school sweetheart breakup.

Ah, nothing compares to your first big kind of love. The two of you may have grown up, and grew apart in the process.

There will be many “firsts” in your life -- and your very first love, whom you gave your whole heart to, will always be part of you.

5. The long-distance breakup.

If your boyfriend lives across the country, chances are you probably won't be breaking it off face to face. You might realize being so far from one another just isn't cutting it, and you want to be with someone you can see every week.

It will still be rough, nonetheless, but breaking up in person is a world away from ending things over the phone.

6. The mutual breakup.

You both may decide you're embracing two different paths in life that lead in the opposite direction.

In this case, your heart will still hurt, but you'll probably end things on good terms. Who knows, your paths may cross again one day, and you can pick up where you left off.

With every breakup comes some level of heartbreak. It's an aching feeling when someone who used to be such a significant part of your life for so long, just fades away.

But, we do learn how to pick ourselves up and move forward... no matter how long the healing process may take.