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How to make a relationship work when I am struggling with how I feel?

User Profile: k3rm
k3rm July 18th, 2023

I’ve been with my girlfriend for 5 months (8 if you count before we were officially dating). This is my first relationship and I’ve fallen into a rut. I also don’t have very strong friendships and have always struggled with feeling present or 100% there with other people.


I care about her but I’m struggling to feel the “love” I once felt. I want to rekindle the relationship. Our relationship is so different from anything else I have ever experienced and I feel so accepted and cared for, I want to be able to also provide that.


We’ve talked about how I’m feeling and we almost broke up because I felt it was unfair for her to be so sure of her feelings and for me to be so ambivalent. She told me if I was breaking up because of her, to not break up because it would hurt more (but obvs if I want to leave I should).


I want to be in a relationship because I think we are compatible and we can grow together, but I’ve never visualized a long-term future for us. And I’m worried I’m getting “tired” or at least somehow sabotaging myself into feeling this way. I want to be as in love with her as she is with me, but idk if I am even capable of love like that.


I also worry that since I haven’t had other relationships I have no frame of reference. For now we have decided to be together and she’s going through something so she needs my support. I still worry that my feelings are not enough and I want to get back to a place where I feel confident that I like her romantically and want to be together.


Any tips?


We struggled with this a month ago and then it somewhat got resolved but now its happening again. Additionally, we are currently long-distance for a month or so because she had to take care of a family situation.

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User Profile: hopefulPond6108
hopefulPond6108 July 18th, 2023

@k3rm Hi. I was told that being ambivalent can be normal. Since this is your first relationship maybe you are expecting “feelings” that you think you’re “supposed” to have and maybe that is adding to your discomfort. Must you match her feelings about the relationship so exactly and intensely? They say you never know what you have till it is gone. You might want to get advice from a therapist and work out your feelings. Maybe now is the perfect time?