- "Ghosting" is disappearing without a trace from someone you were dating.
- It's normally thought of as the cowardly thing to do, but one Reddit user has changed the game.
- She told the subreddit r/Confession about how she ghosted her boyfriend of five years, and everyone is on board with it.
Ghosting can happen to anyone. In fact, a reported 80% of millennials have had someone they were dating completely disappear on them without a trace.
The ghosting scale ranges from the just-about-acceptable - when you've been on one date and aren't really feeling it - to the downright cruel - ignoring someone's texts and calls when you've been seeing them for a while.
Either way, it's the coward's way out of an awkward situation, so it might be hard to think of the circumstances where it would be the best option.
That is, until you've read this Reddit post.
The user shared her experience on the subreddit r/Confession, where people are encouraged to share their deepest secrets. She told the story about how she ghosted her boyfriend of five years.
"I came over to his house one morning to surprise him with breakfast and a video game he wanted, only to find him naked, asleep, and with his ex curled up in his arms," the post reads. "He didn't hear me come in, so I closed his bedroom door, and left his breakfast and game on the kitchen counter along with my key to his house."
Rather than wake her boyfriend up and confront him, she showed clear signs she had been there and caught him red handed. The post goes on to describe the most thorough and ruthless ghosting of all time.
"I went to my car, deactivated my Facebook, and blocked him on all other forms of social media. I then called my phone provider to change my number before driving off," she wrote. "I texted family members and close friends that we were no longer together and to block him on social media, as well. I didn't tell them why."
She also ended the lease at her apartment and started a new job in a different city later that week. In other words, there is absolutely no way this man could easily contact her again.
"I completely removed myself from him and didn't offer a shred of explanation or opportunity for dialogue," she wrote. "I disappeared from his life after his betrayal and I think it'll not only help me to focus on myself without his presence, but I think completely shutting myself off from him will hurt worse than anything when he thinks on how good he had it with me these last 5 years."
Many people have been cheated on or betrayed in relationships, and so are familiar with the feelings that it conjures up. It's incredibly hard to keep this calm and collected, and many of us probably wish we would have been able to behave the same way in hindsight.
So overall, perhaps ghosting isn't so bad after all. In extreme circumstances, it may help you move on with your life in an easier way, as long as you don't have the desire for closure.
The thread is full of supportive comments from other users, who applaud her attitude and wish her luck for the future.
"From everything I know about you so far, you are ultimate," one user wrote. "Go as far as you can and move right on past the haters, nobody who hates is anywhere close to your league.
"Find someone with a fine, powerful, noble spirit and don't settle for less. Or don't. Just be a boss yourself and let them find you."
Meanwhile, the most popular comment on the thread asks what game she left behind. It was Super Mario Odyssey.