Is it better to have loved and lost?

It's been well over a year and a half now since we broke up. While I'm still certain it was better for the both of us, especially at the time and in the circumstances, I also still miss her. I still think of her every day. I know her faults, the reason we broke up. I know it was far from sunshine and rainbows, as it feels now. But still, the feeling persists that she was the one. To this day I still question the wisdom in breaking up, despite knowing it was for the better.

Alot of emphasis on knowing, as you can see. Why? Simple, because knowing does not equal feeling. What I feel is, I let the love of my life slip through my hands due to my personal problems. I feel that the other women I've dated since then cannot hold a candle to her. I feel that without her, I'm not complete.
I've even found myself subconciously sabotaging every single attempt at dating another woman.
So, what's the problem you might think? If your feelings are so very strong, go after her. Surely a stupid romantic gesture, proof that I've changed my ways, that I've gotten better, older, wiser and more mature will sway her heart and remind her of why she fell for me in the first place.

The problem is, she's moved on. Quite clearly. Her life has led her down a very different path, one where there is no room for me.
What we had, it is gone and will not come back. Young love, rushed into living together combined with personal issues and extra strain from lack of income broke us. I can't get her back. I would give both my arms gladly to have her back, but it is not to be.

So, it is clear what I have to do. I have to move on as well. I have to let it be, accept that it's gone and won't come back.
The problem however, is that I can't move on. I've tried, over the last 1.5 years. I've tried forgetting her, which was impossible. I saw her face everywhere, I heard her laugh, her silly jokes, I felt the love which she showed me.
So instead, I tried to replace her, to emulate her. I dated a few women, some which were just clearly not for me, some which I could learn to love but those I sabotaged before I got there. After my latest debacle, I've gotten to thinking. Thinking which has led to this. Typing out my thoughts to organize it for myself, to make sense of it.

I've come to a conclusion. It's not a conclusion I like, or one I see have any future. That does not change that it is the only possible conclusion.

I want her back. Still. Until either that happens, or I figure out how to get rid of this feeling, I will remain alone.