I feel for you Silverdash! I am in a similar situation, except my ex kind of disappeared instead of explicitly saying that things were over.
It is normal to feel the way you feel. You cared about this person.
I feel sad and discarded.
When I find my thoughts taking this sort of turn, it sometimes helps me to flip their orientation. You feel like you are discarded, but what about the other side of the equation, as in what about
his problematic behaviour that led to this situation? Do you deserve to be treated like that?
Sometimes that helps. Other times, it feels like the best thing to do is to accept. Accept your thoughts and feelings without necessarily identifying with them. That can help ease the mental pain, because sometimes pain comes from fighting the way we feel.
I worry for him but need to put me first by not contacting him :'(
Yes to putting you first! You cannot control his actions, but you can control yours.
Are there things in your life that make you excited? Goals you are working towards? Be kind and compassionate with yourself, and take the time to do things that make you feel good. Or even, if feeling good seems too far of a reach for now, aim for feeling okay.