Is it Unhealthy to Hook Up With an Ex?

We asked our followers on Instagram for their best stories and here’s what they had to say.

Photo: Unsplash

“In college I hooked up with an ex from high school who shortly after became a convicted felon and my stalker.”

“I cried after… finally letting go because this person who used to make me feel so safe, wasn’t the same anymore.”

“Hooked up with my ex this past summer and I wanted to make him jealous, so I fucked his best friend. Oops. Then he tried to ask me about it…”

Hooking up with an ex can have many different outcomes. For our followers that included, but was not limited to, a stalker, a stranger, and an awkward conversation.

Sometimes the experience can be exciting or a little scandalous; “It was in a motel room and his best friend was blacked out on the next bed.” Other times sex with an ex can be emotionally draining; “He told me the hookup meant something to him when it meant nothing to me. Then I realized it meant something to me and he rejected me when I told him.”

From a poll taken on the MUD Instagram, 59 percent of people who voted said they had, in fact, hooked up with an ex. The other 41 percent had not.

Is there a limit to the amount of times you can hook up with an ex? Absolutely not. It can be once, twice or fifty times if that’s what it takes. Who knows, maybe this reconnection will lead to more than just a familiar hookup, but that’s not always the case.

“I cried during.”

Some responders recollected the emotional turmoil that hooking up with an ex would put them through. “I went back and forth between two exes for a little while. We would hookup, one would leave bruises on me from being rough, and the other would fuck with my mind. I still go back to the mind fucking ex becuase he’s addicting. It makes me feel loved even though it’s not real love at all.”

Is hooking up with an ex a good idea?

One response noted, “Personally, I see no issues hooking up with an ex. Have I done it? Yeah. Do I regret it? 100 percent. I didn’t set boundaries and I had expectations, I set myself up for failure, that’s on me. I also realized he was an asshole who didn’t respect me.”

Another source said, “Hooking up with an ex is an awful idea. There is nothing more personal in a relationship than sex and when you bring that back onto the table things are going to get messy. If you’re in college don’t waste your time with an ex when there are tons of horny guys/girls all over the place.”

So, what’s the verdict? Is it unhealthy to hookup with an ex?

Most people polled had hooked up with an ex, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea, a bad idea, or something necessary to moving on. If the responses indicate anything, it’s that the experience is unique to each situation and should be considered carefully.