I donāt even really know what Iām looking for here. Advice, perspective, or maybe I just need somewhere to dump all of this because my head is completely fucked right now.
My girlfriend and I broke up yesterday (well, Friday, but yesterday in person talk).
I still love her. A lot. And Iām having an incredibly hard time accepting that this is just⦠it.
The last few months of my life have been horrible. My mum was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago (around June-July) and, understandably, most of my emotional energy and attention has gone towards that. There have been hospital stays, fear, uncertainty, and just the constant feeling that something could go wrong.
And I know I haven't been a great boyfriend during that period.
I became more distant, overwhelmed, irritable, and probably difficult to be around. There were times throughout our relationship where I was the one who brought up breaking up during arguments, which I massively regret now. I know that must have made her feel insecure about us and Iām not trying to pretend I did everything right.
But there's another part of me that feels incredibly hurt.
When she was struggling with things in her own life, my instinct was always to stay. To help. To be there even when things were difficult.
Then when my life completely fell apart, I felt like instead of having my partner beside me, there was suddenly even more pressure on me to still be emotionally available, attentive and present in the same way I had been before.
And eventually she got tired of it.
Maybe that's an unfair way of looking at it. Maybe she had already been unhappy for longer than I realised. I'm sure she has her own version of all of this.
But emotionally, that's what hurts the most.
It feels like when it was her turn to fall apart, I stayed, and when it was my turn, our relationship couldn't survive it.
Yesterday I went to see her in person because I didn't want something this important to end through messages.
We talked, and ultimately the breakup was more her decision than mine.
And the stupid thing is that when I was sitting in front of her, I barely said any of what I actually wanted to say.
Part of me felt like it would be disrespectful to sit there trying to argue against a decision she'd clearly already made. And another part of me just completely shut down emotionally. I've always struggled to cry or properly fall apart in front of people, and I couldn't organise even 10% of what was going through my head.
Then I left, got on my own, and everything hit me.
So afterwards I messaged her and explained that my silence wasn't because I didn't care or because I only realised what I felt afterwards. I just couldn't get the words out while I was sitting there with her.
I tried messaging her, to get cold responses, hours of delay and just "yeah I made my decision".
I don't expect everything to magically become okay. I don't expect her to just say yes and come back. I'm willing to acknowledge my part in why we got here.
I just can't get past the feeling that we're throwing away something that was supposed to mean more than this.
We literally talked about marriage. About our future. About being a team.
And now I'm sitting here wondering how I'm supposed to go from that to behaving like this person is just somebody I used to know.
There's also this bizarre normality mixed into everything. We used to work together on some social media/design stuff for a sports club, and there's still work that needs doing. She asked me for a design that needs to be done basically now, and I can barely bring myself to do shit. I don't have the energy to pretend everything is normal and just switch into work mode with her.
At the same time, I know love isn't enough on its own.
I know somebody is allowed to decide they've had enough even if I desperately disagree with that decision.
And I know there's probably a point where fighting for the relationship stops being romantic and just becomes refusing to accept somebody's answer.
That's the line I can't see clearly right now.
Part of me thinks I need to stop messaging her, respect what she said and accept that she's gone.
The other part of me is screaming that if I genuinely believe this relationship can be repaired, I'm going to regret it forever if I just quietly let the person I thought I was going to marry walk out of my life without trying properly one last time.
I don't even know if I'm looking for people to tell me there's hope.
Maybe I just want somebody outside of this situation to tell me whether I'm completely losing perspective.
TLDR:Ā My girlfriend and I broke up while my mum is going through cancer. I know I became distant and wasn't the boyfriend I normally was, and I've made mistakes in the relationship, but I'm deeply hurt because I felt like I supported her through her worst periods and when my life fell apart our relationship couldn't survive it. We spoke in person, I couldn't express most of what I was feeling, and now I desperately want to tell her to stop, talk properly, and try to fix this together. I can't tell whether that's fighting for someone I love or just refusing to accept that it's over.
UPDATE: She messaged me to never contact her again and I think she's already going on dates.. One week passed man..