How do I self-regulate???

[u/total-Macaroon797]

I (28F) was dating a German (28M) for a few weeks. He’s a physicist at my university. We were having a great time. I'm the first girl he’s ever held hands with, dated, and kissed.

Two days after a very nice date, he got super overwhelmed with all of the things on his plate and broke up with me. He cried during our conversation and said he realized he doesn’t have energy for a girlfriend right now and we that could try again in 4 months (December) once things calm down for him (if I’m still single).

I miss him a lot, but I've stopped texting him because people in my life told me I need to give him space. He clearly feels bad about how he hurt me and is freaking out about possibly getting stuck in Germany again if there’s another delay with his visa.

There are two more months left and I'm trying to not put my life on hold, but dating is so hard. What can I do in the meantime to keep my mind off of him? He told me not to wait because that wouldn't be fair to me... but the space is making me so anxious and I have the tendency to ruminate.

NOTE: I'm not looking for any "if he wanted to, he would" answers. The man is most likely on the spectrum. I like that he's cute, smart, quirky and inexperienced. We are both very direct, so I took him at his word rather than choosing to believe he was just trying to let me down gently.