Is it possible to save this relationship? 5 years and many tears later I need a little outside perspective. Long explanation inside, and please, I'm looking for honest opinion/advice, not just "You are/He is a jerk". Thanks.
So, I’ve been with my boyfriend almost 5 years. We have broken up and gotten back together more than a few times, the most recent being a 2-month separation in February of this year. There’s been some dishonesty, infidelity, and other nastiness in the relationship. Our most recent issues have to do with his unstable income. While he has never missed rent (we share a small apartment), he has had to borrow money from me to cover it and has then been pretty broke. I’m worried about the bills he’s not paying even though they are his personal bills and nothing that would affect me. He is a good person, he’s just unsure what to do to make a decent income and not require him abandoning his drive to film and edit for a living. Were both in our late 20’s and I can’t really see us getting married any time soon. That in itself doesn’t bother me (I’m not really concerned with convention), what bothers me is that if he asked me to marry him, I’d be really hesitant.
He’s not really affectionate and so over the years I’ve become less affectionate. These days we rarely kiss save the peck on my forehead every morning. Sometimes I watch him snuggling with the cat and wonder why he doesn’t do that to me. Our sex life isn’t dead, but I’m finding myself less and less interested in it.
I’ve spoken to him bout the distance, the emptiness between us that I feel; I mentioned to him that his struggle to find his way to financial security and a career is so involving, that I feel like worries about our relationship get put to the wayside. His response was that he doesn’t worry about the relationship, it either works or doesn’t. I replied that perhaps he should worry about it, that it’s important to think about whether or not your partner is happy, to which he replied that he’s content, and not doing anything wrong, so any problem I’m having has to do with me. So that’s where we are now.
I have trouble talking with him about this sort of thing because he tends to get really defensive and it dissolves into a back and forth of “Oh yeah, well, I only act like this because YOU already did this” despite my efforts to focus on what to do, or how we feel, not who did what.
I know you all aren’t psychiatrists, and I know this sort of thing is bets discussed with people close to you, but what I’m looking for from the hive mind is the voice(s) of experience, meaning, have you been through this and are we doomed? Have you known people in this situation, and if so did they make it through? How or why not?
I know I’m not happy, but I’m trying to figure out if it’s just the way things wane after 5 years and if it’s possible for me to be happy again.
I'm not downplaying whatever emotions you may have for each other, but what you've given me to work with, I'd say remember what a great thing you once had and move on.
posted by sephira at 4:26 PM on September 11, 2007 [2 favorites]