Jason Tartick gave Bachelor Nation an update on how he’s coping after he and Kaitlyn Bristowe ended their engagement — and it’s safe to say he’s been going through it.
“Kaitlyn has been in L.A. working this week so I’ve been lucky enough to have the boys with me and it has been just a true blessing,” Tartick, 34, began on the Monday, August 22, episode of his “Trading Secrets” podcast, referring to pups Ramen and Pinot. “I just think through this time and it’s like, honestly, we talk a lot about careers and money here, and that is a huge foundation to our life, but it just comes down to relationships, friendships and those who are around you. And even though Ramen and Pinot are animals and pets, they’re best friends to me, and just having them with me has been amazing. Having a great support system [in the] last month to few months has been everything to me. I’ve leaned on them harder than I’ve ever in my life — ever — leaned on my support system.”
Tartick confirmed that he’s continued therapy throughout the split.
“And there’s times where you have these just tidal waves of depression, but then there are these times where, like, you feel lifted and you feel good again,” he said. “And it’s just this back-and-forth flood of emotions. And what I’m learning is that, you know, grieving is just the whole process of honoring, respecting and having love for what was, but then also at the same time, with the same level, and if not more, honoring, respecting and having love for what is.”
The former banker and Bristowe, 38, announced their split on August 6 after four years together. Tartick said on his Tuesday podcast that he’s felt “a little bit better” in recent days but noted: “I’m not trying to thrive here. You know, I am trying to barely survive here.”
“I feel like the foundation that I’m on right now is like it feels like quicksand if you will, and I’m just trying to make it like beach sand where it’s still hard to walk but, like, it’s not sinking,” he said. “Figuring out where I’m gonna go, what I’m gonna do, what I’m gonna buy, if I’m gonna rent. I’m in a very, very short-term temporary situation now, but I need to figure out something quick here, so that’s been my focus and I think It’s just been a lot, you know, it’s day by day, it gets better.”
Tartick continued: “And I feel fortunate saying this at 34, but the grief that I have experienced in the last, like, few months is the hardest grief I’ve ever experienced in my life. And I know when I say that at 34, that I am so lucky that a breakup with a fiancée is the hardest grief I’ve ever experienced.”
He concluded that he remains dedicated to healing.
“I’m just giving myself a lot of attention, my mental health a lot of attention,” he said. “The lows that I’ve experienced in the last few months have never been so low. So, little baby steps and we’re getting there.”
Bristowe, for her part, took an eight-day social media break following the split.
“Nothing bad happened. It’s just been over time. We have both not made each other a priority. And this is what happens. … We are both so sad. You think you’re going to spend your life with somebody. … I don’t want to sit here and cry,” she said of the breakup on her “Off the Vine” podcast earlier this month. “We’re grieving a loss.”
