Vexing situation.

[similar.squirrel]

I was broken up with recently. It was most likely my fault. Anyway..
Over the course of this two-year relationship, I graduated from secondary school, enrolled in a college five hours from my family, and dropped out in order to graduate from secondary school again.
The problem is that I've realized that my main motivation for the past twenty-odd months has been this girl. She was the reason I went to college at the other end of the country, and it was heartbreaking to have to come back home because I messed up my last year of secondary. Now that the whole thing is over, I feel completely aimless.
Is there a quick method of moving on? I know I want to go to University, and I know what I want to study. But everything feels highly pointless at the moment; like entering a marathon with legs or something.
I don't have any close friends where I live [my best friend stayed in the college that I left], and I really don't want to have to go to University somewhere alone. Casual sex is not really an option as I'm living with my parents again and I don't have the social skills to make that sound like a cool situation. Neither is another relationship, seeing as I'll be moving again in a few months.

 

[Mr Somewhere]

This isn't the greatest advice, but what always helped me was reading.
Simply, is there anything you love? Any fictional works, any hobby you hold, etc. Find meaning through that. Think carefully about university, disregard the economy, do only what you can live with, happiness is key, you only live once.

 

[SiskoBlue]

Experience. Experience dilates time. So the quickest way to "move on" from a certain point in your life is to have more life experience. In essence, this is why people often advise finding another partner as soon as possible. A rebound. I don't think this is the healthiest approach but it's the thing that usually happens to people to help them move on, so that's why they suggest it.

Travel is a great option but it's tricky. It takes planning and money. I think it's one of the best ways to move on because it takes you out of your environment and comfort zone and rely on yourself for a while. Plus it's filled with new experiences and oppurtunities. Then again some people do this half-heartedly and have a horrible time sitting on a foreign beach endless moping about what went wrong. Do stuff on holiday and get some perspective about your problems.

One of the best and cheapest options is to go for those group coach tours (make sure it's one focused at "yonger" people. You don't want to get stuck next to a german couple who once knew an (your country of origin) 20 years ago and keep insisting you must have met them at some point, being (from your country of origin) and all. Generally I personally loathe the idea of forced grouping but these coach tours can be very rewarding. It's rare that after 5 days holidaying with 30 random strangers you don't find a few people you can share a laugh with.

Failing that, hobbies, interest groups, new job, they all provide a nice mental break from thinking about the ex. You could even set yourself some goal like learning a language, or some physical goal of exercise. These things really, really help. I had a very similar experience with my first girlfriend and with university. Completely bombed out my first year. I made two promises when I went back 1. I'm going to uni and studying for my own personal interest. Not for a job, not to satisfy parents or any sense of social pressure. I'm going because I want to learn stuff. 2. Don't quit. Hand in rubbish if I have to but do the homework. Go to every test. Even if you think you'll fail. I'd say you've got a 90% of passing all university just by showing up.

Hope this helps. Good luck.