I know it’s little solace, but count your lucky stars you didn’t get married or have children because that could make the breakup a bajillion times harder
I’m sorry to hear this. I’ve been there done that, and bought the T-shirt.
I must say, this following point is important to remember:
Right now, you may find that there are more downs than ups. But time heals. Someday, at some unspecified point in the future, there will be more ups than downs. Keep moving forward to that day.
I can’t improve on the advice already given. This sucks, dude. Hang in there.
So you’ve been on the SDMB slightly longer than that. Yikes.
Echoing one of the above posts: let yourself feel your emotions as they come; don’t try to stuff the sadness down and ignore it.
This really sucks for present you, but it’s a huge gift to future you.
Also, don’t worry about the time scale. You may get over it fairly quickly, or it might take a couple years. That’s okay.
Also, if I could talk to past me, I’d tell him not to break a girl’s heart because you’re on the rebound.
You bet your sweet bippy.
I’m sorry. Breakups hurt, so be easy on yourself.
Hugs, from your SMDB grandma.
Again, thanks to you all. We’re trying to do this civilly and she’s the one who is going to move out and obviously needs some time to do so, but it’s just so weird. We went shopping (groceries, etc.) today just like we did last week before she said it was over and the whole thing just felt so confusing.
At least I can still keep talking to the same counselor. My coworkers have been as supportive as I could hope for, but three days is about as much as I can ask before they get reasonably pissed off.
Sorry if this sounds like the devil wearing a sundress but I’m going to recap the situation as I see it,
You’re young, have a masters degree and scored a job in your field of study that survived an imploding economy. A relationship which you didn’t initiate has gone south because nothing you do seems to matter. You’re not married, have no children and hold no obligations to her in ANY way.
At worst you still hold feelings for someone who is solidly on course to making your life a living hell.
At best you’re young and have a full life ahead of you to share with someone who is a much better fit and will love you for who you are.
Sorry your heart strings got plucked. Give her your best wishes and a first class plane ticket to anywhere on the planet.
It doesn’t sound like you were in love with a false image of a person. Irreconcilable differences don’t make either of you a fool or a jerk. Everyone changes as they get older. You both just changed in ways that ended up being incompatible. It sucks heartily, but it happens–that doesn’t mean you or she did anything wrong.
I’m certain you learned a lot about yourself and what you like/don’t like from this relationship. You had plenty of good times with her. There’s no truth or benefit to regarding the time as wasted.
Take care of yourself. If you don’t have any pets, or if you lose pets in the split, get a pet. That’s always helped me a lot. 
My ex and I went shopping the day before I moved out. Extremely surreal experience. And really not a good idea in our case, but I digress.
Good luck keeping things civil. Both of you are probably going to have a lot of up-and-down emotions that can make that challenging, but it is doable. Do your best to keep your own well-being as your top priority. Hopefully, happier days are in your not-too-distant future.
Sorry to hear the news, ast. I don’t have any advice to share; sometimes the best you can hope for is to eventually come out of things a little stronger and smarter than you went into them.
Hear, hear. Just because things are falling apart now doesn’t mean that either one of you was stupid or blind or anything negative. Not being in love now doesn’t mean the love wasn’t real then. It MIGHT mean that, sure. And some relationships are terrible ideas. But the worst ending doesn’t invalidate anything else.
I echo the thoughts about how this is a grief process. Some of it will probably suck and some will probably be easier than you expected. Try not to beat yourself up, and try not to hold it against her, either. There’s no point.
Grief sucks. I’m sorry.
be glad it didn’t end up like Gone Girl