What will you do to mend a broken heart after a recent break-up? Probably the most convenient thing to do is to go find someone else and start anew. If so, you will be entering what they call a rebound relationship. Rebound relationships are formed right after one or both parties (usually only one party) have been from a failed relationship or when there is still an emotional connection to the previous partner.

This type of relationship often ends up into another break-up. The reason for this is that the party who has just been through a failed relationship is still often attached to his/her previous partner thus total emotional connection to the rebound partner may not take place.

Given that this type of relationship rarely works, why do people still tend to enter into these anyway? Here are some of the reasons why we still immerse ourselves in this tight situation:

1. To distract oneself. Having our hearts broken can be extremely painful especially if we already made plans for our future with our partners. This experience can make us just mope in bed all day long for a week or so or sometimes, it can even bring out thoughts of taking our own life. Finding someone else to be with can help us to mask the pain that we feel.
2. To satisfy one's attention needs. Our ex is probably the closest person to us before the break-up had happened. Hence, it is only normal to feel alone in the aftermath. Entering a rebound relationship makes us feel needed and important again. Though we may ask our friends to accompany us during these desperate times, the attention that a partner can give us still cannot be replaced by the company of friends.
3. To realize one's self-worth. One's "market value" and one's tenure in a commitment are inversely proportional as many would say. The longer we stay in a relationship, the lesser we are viewed as an eye candy. This is due to the fact that we become too complacent with the way we look that the only opinion that matters to us is of our partner's—which tend to patronize us to prevent the chances of finding a replacement if ever things go wrong. Once we have found that someone who will love us after an unsuccessful relationship (especially for relationships lasting for more than a year), we start to feel good about ourselves, and that gives us the impression that we are still "marketable" as same as the latest gadgets that many of us are fond of.
4. To get one's ex jealous. It's a fact that when we enter rebound relationships, our previous relationships have not been resolved yet. With that, we are amused to find out that our actions still affect our ex partners. But that is not always the case. Some of us commit to rebound relationships with an intention of getting our exes back. Though it may sound as a paradox, jealousy may trigger an emotion that could make our ex chase us despite the bitter break-up.

Whatever our reasons are in coming into a rebound relationship, we always have to keep in mind that our rebound partner also is dragged into the pain we are into or sometimes even suffer more than we are experiencing. It is downright unfair to treat them as indispensible, like the times when we keep on replacing our dead goldfish because we forget to feed it, or when we purchase a brand new smartphone to replace our old ones every now and then. We must not forget that they are also human, like us (if we act as one), capable of getting hurt. It still is the best way to take the high road and resolve whatever issues we have with our exes even before planning to start anew to avoid hurting others.