After a breakup: getting through Sunday nights and finding your feet
Getting through hard times · Équipe Viatous · 4 min
Sunday evenings are the worst. The sofa feels too big, the phone too quiet, and you still catch yourself getting two mugs out before you remember. People keep telling you to "move on". Easy for them to say.
A breakup, even a necessary one, shakes up far more than your heart: your schedule, your weekends, sometimes your home and your mutual friends. The good news is that all of it can be rebuilt, bit by bit.
Accept that it's hard (and that it comes in waves)
Some days you'll feel fairly okay, and on others a song will knock you flat. That isn't going backwards. It's normal.
Don't judge yourself. You're allowed to feel sad, angry, relieved, or all of it at once.
Hold off on big decisions. Moving, changing jobs, cutting everyone off: let the dust settle first.
Step back from social media. Checking their profile at 1 am has never helped anyone.
And however long it lasted, six months or fifteen years, what you lived through counts. Nobody gets to measure your pain for you. You're allowed to take the time you need, without comparing yourself to anyone.
Build a few new anchors
When a relationship ends, it isn't only the person you miss: it's the routines too. The answer isn't to fill every minute, but to set a few new fixed points:
A morning ritual : coffee outside, a ten-minute walk, a page of journaling.
One regular weekly plan : a sport, a class, an evening with someone.
A plan for the tough moments : on Sunday evening, have something lined up. A film with a friend, a call, a walk.
The basics : sleep, eat properly, move a bit. It sounds obvious, and it's what keeps you standing.
Don't withdraw: lean on your friends
After a breakup, it's tempting to shut yourself away. Yet other people are what help you bounce back. According to the Fondation de France's Solitudes 2025 study , friends are the network people in France rely on most (58%), ahead of neighbours and family.
Let the people close to you know it's tough. And if your friends were mostly "couple friends", this might be the moment to widen your circle a little.
Try new things, with new people
A breakup also, almost despite yourself, frees up time and space. It's a chance to do things you kept putting off: running again, learning a language, going to gigs, trying climbing. And to do them with others, so you're not doing them alone.
If your relationship involved fear, control or violence, what happens after the separation matters too. In France, 3919 can listen and point you to the right help, free and anonymously.
Viatous: talk it through, or just get your spark back
On Viatous, you write what you want to do, and Viatous creates a Room: a small group of 2 to 4 compatible people, online or in person. Two ways to use it:
To talk about it. For example: "Talk about my separation with other people who've just been through a breakup." That's a support Room, for adults 18 and over, where Roomi, the Viatous robot, goes over the rules and gives everyone their turn. You show up with your first name, the camera is optional, and you can leave whenever you want.
To enjoy things again. For example: "Find two people to go running on Sunday mornings in the park." That turns the worst moment of the week into something to look forward to.
And no, Viatous isn't a dating app: you come to do something together, not to find a partner. After the activity, if the group wants, the Room can become a Circle that meets again. What if next Sunday you had something better to do than stare at your phone? To get started, see How it works .
If it gets too heavy
Immediate danger in France: call 17 (police) or 112 . If you can't speak, text 114 . Outside France, contact the emergency services in your country.
Violence against women in France: 3919 , free, anonymous, 24/7; the call doesn't show up on phone bills. Information and online reporting: arretonslesviolences.gouv.fr .
Suicidal thoughts or deep distress, for you or someone close to you: 3114 in France, free, 24/7 ( 3114.fr ).
For ongoing support: your GP, a psychologist, or France's Mon soutien psy scheme (up to 12 sessions a year with a partner psychologist, reimbursed by the national health insurance).