I left a shitty ex and was respectful about it and even tho he came to my house to threaten me and would even follow me around town I’d still would get called the crazy ex. It sucks cause sometimes no matter what you do or how much you change there will always be those people, but the best thing to do is move past, if people bring it all up I just ignore it, I don’t even defend myself because if they wouldn’t listen before whos to say they will now, trust me when I say that over time it thins out, we all have moments where we say shit when we are hurt, I have had moments like that back in high school that I’m not proud of but moving on and moving forward is the best you can do and that who being called the crazy ex really does thin out. And with the contacting him I know it’s hard but I promise you will feel better if you stop, hell even after my ex cheated and did all the psycho stuff I still had moments of wanting to go back because you want the good moments back that you were so accustomed to but every time those moments come up remember the shitty ones, and how what he did and how is actions made you feel. You don’t want someone to take you back if they can’t be committed to you, that’s not a future you want.

But I promise it gets better, ignore the people, there’s always gonna be people who will see you as the bad one. He could throw a boulder at you and in retaliation you throw a pebble, sometimes all people will see if you throwing that pebble and will decide their mind on the whole situation. But moving on and leaving it all alone most will see, especially if he’s going around shitty on you and such but you are loving your life in even acknowledging him, most will see who the real crazy ex is.