What's Protocol for Moving On?

How long is too long? (stop giggling) I meant in the world of relationships, more specifically, relationships that have an undefined expiration date. I suppose in theory all things come to an end at some point, but most of us have dated people and had that deep down in your gut feeling, even though you may do everything in your power to ignore it, that this one just isn't the one that will be "the love of my life".

I wonder how long it takes from when you start to have that feeling that things will most likely not work out to the point where you are either on the receiving end of the "I don't want this anymore" or delivering the giant disappointment package to your soon to be ex-significant other. How do you figure out when it's time to pack it in? Do you wait it out? Cut to the chase? Or close your eyes and hope this feeling goes away and your delusion of happiness dilutes itself into an acceptable way of life?

Recap your past relationships and I almost guarantee that you can find the moral out of each of them. The ones that didn't work, in someway, were there to help you through, grow-up, or even just teach you that there are plenty of creative things to do behind closed doors. Or from another point of view, look at how you may have impacted someone elses life, made it better, made them think differently or put them in their place.

Of course, it's easy to recap all of these things, once heartbreak is a distant concept and not the new adjective you use when someone asks how you're feeling.

What I wonder is how long is too long before you realize you're ready to move on? Or how long does it really take, or rather, should it take from the moment when you have the twinge of the gut to the actual "I've moved on" moment? I know that each situation is different but I wonder if we all actually really know deep down when the starter-relationships aren't going to work out, because they're merely just warming you up for the real thing.

Talk amongst yourselves and get back to me with your theory...I'm intrigued.