I decided to speak to my friend Sol about this problem and potential solutions to see his feedback.

The problem: My friend is in love with his girlfriend, but his parents don’t like the girl and forbade him to date her, so they broke up. I felt the empathy as I went through something almost identical (I do understand no two experiences are the same)

My solution: Just speaking from my personal experience, I feel the best solution for my friend is to accept the situation that he’s currently in for what it is, and then try and think to himself, “did I do what was best for me, considering the situation I was in.” I think he can confidently say he knows his parents were never budging. He attempted to persuade them on her for a couple years already and this is the final straw. I think he needs to come to terms with the fact that he can’t date her and accept within himself that breaking up with her was the best choice for him considering the situation he was in. Once he comes to personal terms with himself, he will have a better outlook and feel a little better about the breakup.

Reaction of Sol: He thought my solution was a really good one and called it a very mature way of thinking. He thinks it would really be of benefit to my other friend having this issue. He agrees that coming to terms within what he was able to control is important and will help, but he doesn’t think it is just as simple as that for him to be happy again. He thinks that the love and bond connection that will now be taken away, will still pain him and be an issue for him. He did however say that the only thing he thinks will heal the problem fully is time. Once he moves on, he will be ok. My solution is the first step in the right direction of moving on.