How do you say goodbye to your girlfriend/best friend?

I am 24 years old and have been with my current girlfriend for about 2.5 years. I will give a little background about how we met and what she was like.





She didn't have any real close friends and was in kind of a dead end job at the place I lived, but I had a few friends there. One night me and one of my friends invited her up to come hang out with us, because my friend liked her, but she ended up liking me. After making sure it was ok with my friend I decided to give it a shot with her. Long story short we hit it off and fell in love, and she ended up becoming really close with all of my friends. It was fantastic for a while, we had all the same friends (about 60 or 70 mutual), had a lot in common, got along great, and our families worked perfectly together. Also during this time, she got a new job, went back to school, got a new car, and completely changed as a person (for the better). I feel like I had a big part in that change and I loved that feeling.





After about a year and a half, we started having some problems and decided maybe we weren't right for each other. We decided to break up and it was really hard so we didn't talk for about 2 or 3 months. We both moved on and had our own little flings, but it seemed like there was something missing so I ultimately started running into her more and more and asked her if she wanted to give it another shot. She agreed and we started dating again about 5 or 6 months ago. One of the main reasons we got back together was because it seemed like we both wanted to, and because of that it was really awkward around all our friends because ever since the beginning they knew her as my GF and it was really weird when we were just ';friends'; again.





Up until about a month ago, things were great. Everyone that we know was so happy we got back together, including our parents, friends, and extended family. We hit it off again but now everything is going to crap again.





The issue I have is that if we break up, I'm not only losing my girlfriend but also my best friend. When we fight and I see something funny, I immediately think of her and want to tell her but I can't. Then I get sad and want to tell someone I feel sad but the only person I would really tell is her. If I talk to our friends about it, anything I say will surely get back to her eventually.





I don't want to cut things off with her again because I do love her more than anything and I want her to be happy, but my instincts are telling me to say goodbye. She wouldn't be surprised if we broke up because she knows we both kind of feel like it's a lost cause, but it's so hard to say goodbye to someone like this.





The other issue that I have is I am afraid of being alone. I am out of college now and don't have much opportunity to meet people other than bars, so I'm afraid that if this isn't it, I'm destined to be alone forever. I know this is stupid and not true but the feeling is still there and it's hard to tell yourself otherwise in this situation.





Anyway, my question is how do you say goodbye to someone like this without going into depression? I feel horribleHow do you say goodbye to your girlfriend/best friend?
First of all, you are not destined to be alone forever. You think that you will be because you are breaking up with someone who has been such a big part of your life and you feel like you will never love someone like that again but the good news is here is that you can love someone again. I know that you all have the same friends and it would be hard to talk to them about her without her finding out but don't you have a few select friends that would never say anything to her or friends that don't know her? If you really have a struggle with it you can always go to therapy and express your feelings to a person who listens for a living:) You don't have to resort to going to bars to meet a girl. There are all sorts of activities that you can get involved in whether it's in your town or another town close by. I know that this will be hard for you to finally let go but if you both know that it is never going to work out, then you need to deal with it sooner than later. It will hurt for a while and you will feel alone and probably sad but you will get through this over time.