7 common regrets you might have after a breakup

• Breakups are a big life event and when you're dealing with a big change, it can be natural to reflect back on the relationship or even the breakup itself.
• If you find that you're dealing with some regrets, you're not alone.
• There are a number of common regrets that you might have after a breakup, ranging from not putting in enough time or effort to not establishing boundaries.

Whether a breakup changed your daily interactions, your living situation, or what you thought your future might look like, it's hard to get out of a relationship without some change to your life. Because they can cause such a change, you might start to think about how things would've worked out or could've worked out if you'd made different choices, done things differently.

You may have some regrets, which doesn't feel great, but if you do, you're hardly the only one who's dealt with post-breakup regret.

There are a number of common regrets that you might have after a breakup, but the good news is that you can also move past them and on with your life.

You didn't establish boundaries.

Establishing boundaries in any relationship is important, but sometimes can get overlooked. If you didn't set up boundaries early on in your relationship, it could turn into a post-breakup regret.

"One thing that I hear about good relationships that end is that a lot of the problems they had could have been avoided,"Kevon Owen, M.S., LPC, a clinical psychotherapist and counselor, told INSIDER. "If they would have spoken up about things that were bothering them, they could have avoided it getting to the point of resenting the other person. They were fearful of upsetting the other person or being rejected. With this particular regret, I like to think about it as long term investing in the relationship. It may cost a little bit up front but over time the compound conflict that will be avoided is immeasurable. A relationship is best when you really know what the other person really likes and dislikes and who they really are. This is a live and learn kind of regret that calls for some reflection and awareness."

Letting the other person know where you stand, what you want, what you don't want, what you like, or what you don't like or appreciate can help save you both a lot of heartaches later on.

You didn't try hard enough in the relationship.

Whether you gave it your all in your relationship or not, after breaking up, you might start to think that maybe you didn't and that if you had, you might still be together. It's a common post-breakup regret.

"A relationship ending makes us become nostalgic and you tend to remember many of the good things you shared with your former partner,"Dr. Alisha Powell, Ph.D., LCSW, a couples counselor, told INSIDER.

You hung around too long and didn't end things sooner.

On the flip side of things, feeling as though you didn't end things soon enough and instead let the relationship linger, potentially even making things worse between the two of you, is another common regret that you might have after you break up with a partner. Relationship coach Sheila Darling, LMSW, told INSIDER that feeling as though you wasted that time hoping that the dynamic between the two of you would change and things would get better can certainly be a source of regret.

"Once out of the relationship, they are more open to support from friends and/or professionals who can help them gain insight into their own behavior so they can look at the relationship in a different light," Darling said. "Once a relationship has ended, it is easier to evaluate the time, energy, physical and financial commitment that was put into it and then decide if this is a healthy way to move into a future relationship."