Unfortunately, it can be far too easy to go from innocently “just checking your crush‘s Instagram story” to somehow scrolling through their vacation photos from three years ago.
With a single slip of the thumb, you see that floating red heart, and your soul leaves your body. No matter how fast you unlike it, if they have push notifications on, they’ll still see what you’ve done. Here are the stages of grief you go through next.
Also read about: How to Keep the Text Convo Going With Your Crush When You’re Not Ready to Let It Die
Denial
The first stage is refusing to admit it ever happened. You definitely did not just like a photo from 2023.
You might refresh the app, as if that’s going to reset the space-time continuum. It’s going to do nothing of the sort. It’s too late to undo what’s been done.
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The Instant Unlike
Of course, your first action was to unlike the post. Your fingers have never flown faster, in the hopes that your quickness will prevent the notification from going through.
The painful truth it that the notification got sent before you even realized what happened, and they don’t care how speedy you are.
Also read about: 7 Red Flags That Might Mean You’re Texting Way Too Much
Regretting the Sequence of Events That Brought You Here
It’s here when you start to question everything. Why were you scrolling deep into their profile in the wee hours of the night? What were you even searching for in the first place?
Chances are that you’ll interrogate yourself for hours, working to piece together the crime you already know you committed, but still demanding to get down to the why.
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Hoping They Didn’t See It
If you think about it hard enough, you can convince yourself that the notification got buried until a bunch of other alerts, or that they don’t have push notifications on for Instagram at all.
You’re probably also checking whether they’ve been active recently—and immediately freak out when you see they were just online.
Coming Up With a Cover Story
You’ve already mentally started preparing excuses in case the errant like comes up. Maybe you say your thumb slipped, or you were scrolling too fast, or even that your phone tends to have a mind of its own.
None of these are the slightest bit believable, but you need to cover your bases somehow.
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Bringing in Help
Your friends never let you down, so you immediately took a screenshot of the situation and sent it to the group chat with lots of exclamation points, panicking emojis and no context beyond your dismay.
Of course, they all responded within 30 seconds because they live for this kind of emergency, whether or not their advice actually solves anything or makes you feel any better.
Analyzing Your Crush’s Response Time
At some point, you go from dreading them knowing about your like to being desperate for them to respond to it. If they don’t like anything back or comment within an hour, you’re going to read into it, assuming they hate you now.
On the other hands, if they do like one of your pics in response, you blow it way out of proportion, feeling like you’re basically engaged. When it comes to the important things like this, it’s all or nothing.
Also read about: The Perfect Text to Send Your Crush, Based on Their Zodiac Sign
Replaying Every Past Interaction
This embarrassing new event colors every past interaction you’ve had with them, and suddenly you’re mentally replaying them all in a new context. Every past “hey” or group project conversation suddenly feels humiliating once you start picking it apart.
Have they always looked at you like that? Are you normal around them, or a complete weirdo? You’ll never know, and your perspective on the matter has irrevocably shifted.
Accepting Your Fate
Eventually, you have to realize there’s nothing left to do but accept the consequences of your actions. There’s no use denying that what’s done is done, and whether it brings on pain and embarrassment or a lifetime of happiness is up to the fates.
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…But Learning Little From the Whole Debacle
Just because the experience was harrowing and seemed to take a week off your life doesn’t mean it’ll stop you from doing it again. One week later, and you might find yourself in exactly the same predicament.
History has a way of repeating itself, and maybe after two or three rounds of this, you’ll finally learn your lesson.
For more insights on communication with your crush, click HERE as we decode more than 70 emojis and what they mean coming from your crush.
