Sculpting aside, all of that advice could work, but ultimately, deciding when to move on from a relationship is a personal choice, says dating coach Natalia Juarez . "How long it takes for you to be ready to move on depends on a few different circumstances," she says. If you're the one who broke things off, then it's likely that you've been checked out of the relationship for a while. So it might not take much time for you to "move on" because you haven't been hurt. But, if you were the person who was broken up with, then recovering from the heartbreak might take more time. And, it'll take a lot of reflection, says Chloe Carmichael, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist . "We naturally are prone to go by our hearts, but sometimes it actually helps a lot to take a step back and use our heads to think strategically about what's really going to be the best thing for us," she says.