Falling Out of Love
When love starts to fade, before we even face the potential loss of the person we’re with or the relationship we’re in, many of us mourn the loss of something inside us. Falling out of love is like losing a part of ourselves that was once illuminated. It’s one of the most painful processes to endure. Not only are we losing something valuable, we are also caught up in the mystery surrounding that loss. The period in which we realize that our feelings have changed tends to be riddled with confusion. What happened to that excitement and admiration that once made us come alive? According to many experts who’ve studied relationships, this mystery is something worth exploring when we feel ourselves falling out of love.
Before diving further into the subject of why we fall out of love and what we can do to make sense of these feelings, it’s important to note that many of the reasons we fall out of love are valid. Of course, when some relationships end, it’s for the best. There are real reasons people find themselves unhappy and wanting to move on. Some people change in real ways that make them grow apart. Others get to know themselves better and realize they were never really in love but in fantasy. No one should ever force themselves to stay in any situation in which they feel miserable and less like themselves.
However, when we talk about why so many people experience falling out of love with someone who once lit them up and filled them with joy, we have to question what goes on that creates this shift. Do we fall out of love for the right reasons? Is it possible to stay in love for the long-haul or fall back in love after falling out of it? You may be surprised that the overwhelming answer for many in the scientific community is YES. Real, lasting love is possible. However, it involves some effort, avoidance of certain relationship trappings, and a willingness to overcome some of our own defenses and fears.
Because we bring so much to the table when it comes to our relationships and our feelings about those relationships, it’s valuable to practice self-reflection and look inward to help explore the question of where did our love go. Many of us question our relationship when our feelings start to fade. It’s necessary to make sense of these feelings. We must be sure that, if we leave, we know it’s for the right reasons, and if we stay, we’re doing all we can to feel the most alive and in love. To understand our own experience of falling out of love, we should consider three things:
- Why am I falling out of love?
- What are the signs that I’ve fallen out of love?
- Is it possible/worthwhile to reconnect with my feelings and fall back in love?
Why Are You Falling Out of Love?
As I said, one of the most challenging mysteries we encounter in life is where all those feelings go when we fall out of love. There are many reasons relationships change for the worse, but what’s perhaps most valuable to consider is our own struggles surrounding love and intimacy. After conducting a 75-year longitudinal study from Harvard University, researcher George Vaillant and his team concluded that the keys to happiness were 1. Love, and 2. “finding a way of coping with life that does not push love away.” Lasting love is possible, but it isn’t always easy.
“Almost every one of us struggles, to some degree, to stay connected to our loving feelings,” said Dr. Lisa Firestone, co-author of Sex and Love in Intimate Relationships. “Early experiences of feeling hurt or rejected can injure our ability to connect with and sustain our loving feelings. Giving and receiving love actually challenges our core defenses, early adaptations we formed to protect ourselves against the ways we were hurt.”
While none of us choose to fall out of love, many of us are unaware of the defenses we’ve formed and adaptations we’ve made that may now limit us in our ability to stay close and connected to our partner. For example, it may be hard to stay connected and trust someone completely when we grew up feeling insecure and neglected. It can be difficult to be vulnerable and consistently kind when we grew up with people who were cold, punishing, or had their own difficulty giving and receiving love.
Our unique upbringings and early attachment styles come to influence our defenses and behavior patterns. They can also create insecurities and fears about love. “Interpersonal relationships are the ultimate source of happiness or misery,” wrote Dr. Robert Firestone, author of Fear of Intimacy. “Love has the potential to generate intense pleasure and fulfillment or produce considerable pain and suffering.” When we fall out love, we may, in some ways, be falling into this fear.
How can you tell whether you’re really falling out of love or just giving into fear?
Contrary to what one might assume, our fears around intimacy tend to get bigger as we get closer to another person. Therefore, we may allow ourselves to fall in love at first but become scared when the relationship deepens or becomes more “serious.” “Love—kindness, affection, sensitive attunement, respect, companionship—is not only difficult to find, but is even more challenging for many people to accept and tolerate… They often find it difficult to accept being loved and acknowledged for who they really are,” said Dr. Robert Firestone. “Many people are unaware that being loved or especially valued makes them feel angry and withholding.”
In their research, Drs. Robert and Lisa Firestone, have listed common psychological reasons that love scares us without us being fully aware:
- Love arouses anxiety and makes us feel vulnerable.
- It brings up sadness and painful feelings from the past (i.e. a love we didn’t feel as children).
- Love often provokes a painful identity crisis, as we’re seen in a new, more positive light.
- It disconnects people from a “fantasy bond” with their parents or early caretakers.
- It arouses guilt in relation to surpassing a parent or caretaker.
- Love stirs up painful existential issues and fears around loss.
Are You Falling Out of Love or Falling Out of Fantasy?
Many of us aren’t consciously aware of the ways they may be afraid of love. We may see the real problem in the relationship as being the ways it’s changed. We may list all the issues our partner has, the way he no longer looks at us or she no longer treats us. Or, we may notice our own behavior changing, and chalk that up to no longer feeling the same way toward our partner. However, the real question to ask is why did these dynamics shift in the first place? The answer to that often has to do with fear and fantasy.
When we describe the spark fading in our relationships, we’re not usually aware of a process we’re engaging in that is literally dousing the flames. A “fantasy bond” is a concept developed by Dr. Robert Firestone, which describes how couples forego real love for a fantasy of connection. “Most people have a fear of intimacy and at the same time are terrified of being alone,” said Firestone. “Their solution is to form a fantasy bond – an illusion of connection and closeness – that allows them to maintain emotional distance while assuaging loneliness.”
A fantasy bond is created when a couple replaces the substance of real relating with the form of being a couple. They start to overstep each other’s boundaries, relating as a “we” instead of a “you” and “me.” They fall into routine and start to do things out of habit or expectation as opposed to real passion or interest. They may try to control each other, showing less respect for each other’s autonomy and independence. This type of relating naturally diminishes attraction, and there is usually less physical and personal relating. Ultimately, engaging in these patterns can drive a couple further and further not only from each other, but from themselves and their loving feelings. When we consider why we’re falling out of love, it’s helpful to look at how much we may have fallen into a fantasy bond with our partner.
Learn more about the Fantasy Bond here
Signs That You’re Falling out of Love
When a relationship becomes less vital, there are often a lot of elements at play. Dr. John Gottman, one of the leading researchers on relationships, has spent 25 years observing couples’ interactions. He lists the four most toxic behaviors between couples, what he calls the “four horsemen,” as the following:
- Criticism: Are you blaming or attacking your partner?
- Defensiveness: Are you closed off to feedback from your partner?
- Contempt: Are you rolling your eyes, mocking or pushing your partner away?
- Stonewalling: Are you shut down in your interactions with your partner? Is your underlying tone and body language standoffish or withdrawn?
When we first fall in love, we tend treat our parter with a level of respect and kindness that connects to our own loving feelings. But love isn’t just a feeling that comes and goes; it comes from this way of treating each other. We should always try to think of love as a verb. It requires real action to exist and thrive. When we engage in destructive behaviors, we do ourselves and our partner a disservice by limiting expressions/feelings of affection. We all act in ways we don’t like from time to time, but it’s always beneficial to consider if any of the four horsemen have marched their way into any part of our relationship.
It’s also helpful to consider the following questions set forth by Dr. Lisa Firestone to help evaluate the situation and determine whether the relationship itself is not working.
- Is my relationship negatively affecting other areas of my life?
- Do I feel upset and fragmented a lot of the time?
- Am I too distracted by my relationship to function in healthy ways?
- Do I rarely feel like myself anymore?
- Am I anxious or desperate toward my relationship partner?
- Do I feel like there is something wrong with me that I am frantic to fix?
- Has my relationship impacted or hurt my friendships?
- Has it affected the way I parent (i.e. I’m distracted from caring for my children or too reliant on them to meet my needs?)
- Do I feel chronically ashamed of myself?
- Do I feel down or hopeless about my life most of the time?
If any relationship is causing us this type of distress, we may very well decide it isn’t right for us. We can end the relationship or seek counseling that may help us make sense of what’s going on.
Can You Stop Yourself from Falling Out of Love?
Every relationship will face challenges, because no person is perfect. If we’ve fallen into some destructive patterns or our relationship has some characteristics of a fantasy bond, we shouldn’t despair. These problems exist along a continuum. It’s truly possible to take a turn toward getting back the love you once shared with another person. The short answer to the question of whether we can stop ourselves from falling out of love is yes. Staying in love is possible, but like most good things in life, it usually takes some effort.
A neurological study from Stony Brook University led by Bianca P. Acevedo and Arthur Aron revealed similar brain activity between couples who had just fallen in love and couples who’d been together as long as 20-plus years. These long-term couples experienced what researchers called “romantic love,” which is characterized by “intensity, engagement and sexual interest.” This form of love is linked to marital satisfaction, well-being, high self-esteem, and relationship longevity. When couples maintain intensity, engagement, and physical connection, they can keep their brains firing and enliven their loving feelings for each other for decades. This led Dr. Acevedo to conclude, “Couples who’ve been together a long time and wish to get back their romantic edge should know it is an attainable goal that, like most good things in life, requires energy and devotion.”
This brings us back to the idea that love is a verb. Connecting to our own loving feelings often involves taking action. Erich Fromm once wrote, “There is only one proof for the presence of love: the depth of the relationship, and the aliveness and strength in each person concerned; this is the fruit by which love is recognized.” It’s also Fromm who famously said that love, “isn’t a feeling, it is a practice.” Before we decide we’ve fallen out of love, we may want to think about all the actions we can take to check in with our own loving feelings. Can we commit to coming fully alive in ourselves before calling time of death on our relationship?
“Love involves behaviors. It is a skill,” said Dr. Lisa Firestone. “When we choose each day to treat another person with gentleness, affection, kindness, and respect, we cultivate and grow our own ability to love.” After years of researching relationships, Drs. Robert and Lisa Firestone developed the Couples Interactions Chart to distinguish characteristics of an ideal, loving, romantic relationship and a fantasy bond. They found these qualities were most important to maintaining lasting love.
- Non-defensiveness and openness Vs getting angry and closed off. This is the opposite of stonewalling. We have to welcome feedback. Open communication with our partner allows us to really know each other and address issues that hurt the relationship.
- Honesty Vs deception. We have to be able to trust each other to feel completely vulnerable.
- Respect for independence Vs overstepping boundaries. Dr. Lisa Firestone says in a relationship, we should try to expend each other’s worlds, not shrink them. That means supporting each other’s interests and independence. Allow each other to express ourselves fully as who we are.
- Physical affection and personal sexuality Vs lack of affection and routine sexuality. In a recent survey published in the Journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science, nearly half of the participants reported being “very intensely in love” after years of being together. The top reason given for maintaining these feelings long-term was the presence of physically affectionate behaviors like hugging and kissing. This is consistent with Dr. Acevedo’s research emphasizing the importance of a physical connection in lasting romantic love.
- Understanding Vs misunderstanding. In order to love someone, we have to see them for who they are. We should try to understand what they’re experiencing.
- Manipulations of dominance Vs Non-controlling behaviors. We have to strive for an equal and respectful relationship. Neither person should try to control the other or deny each other opportunities to be themselves.
Before we decide to give up on love or relationships, it’s valuable to reflect on the defenses we bring to the table and the dynamics that may be limiting our capacity to love. This is a process that can alter the course of our lives. We must know ourselves in order to truly fall in love with someone else. Only when we realize who we are can we fully know what we want. We can use the experience of falling in or out of love as an opportunity to know ourselves better, to understand our tendencies, our fears, and our patterns. We can recognize the behaviors we fall into that may create distance in our relationships. And, we can meet the challenge of changing these behaviors with self-compassion.
Whatever lessons we learn, we can carry into any relationship. So when it’s the right one, we’ll have the tools to fight for the love we want for the long-haul.
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I really like it that “love is a verb. It requires real action to exist and thrive”, and “love isn’t a feeling, it is a practice”.
Thank you!
My significant other just told me that he doesn’t love me like he used to anymore.. But he still loves me.. We used to be so close and understanding and we could talk and conmunicate abiut everything..We used to tell each other that we were best friends. And now it is the complete opposite. For months now, all we seem to do is argue, bicker, put each other down. Its never ending, i love him so much and its so hard to met him go. This article really opened my eyes and gave me a little hopebc he’s everything to me. He’s my world. I will do my part snd try and change for the better and sake of us. Im not ready to give up even though i can seeand feel that he’s already started to. I love him so much imwilling to do anything for him. I hope and pray that it works out
My boyfriend of three years have fallen out of love with me because I was gone for the summer to work. He admit to talking to a girl for a week which gave him excitement that he haven’t gotten from me. I’m very hurt because I been gone for work just to make enough for the both of us to spent more time with each other and it’s just trigger me to the core, I’m very heart broken over this, he said he only to talk to her and nothing psychical but he basically cheated on me emotionally. He broke this news to me the week of my birthday. I do not know how to react. He wants to still take me out for my birthday but we already breaking up so it’s hard to just go out with him after he rips my heart out.
I have been in this relationship for years and we have broken up for the same thing over and over again because he would rather spend his time working overtime, Holidays or with his family But Always comes up with an Excuse when I mentioned spending time with me, or he had no Money, As of now My Love for him has died a long time ago and I can’t stand the sight of him or his touch, he walks around like there’s nothing wrong I want him out of my apt. and My Life (Love Doesn’t Live here anymore)
I pray for you, too.
Thank you so much for this article. I was crying throughout and wished it would never end. It gave me so much clarity and what started as me feeling as if I am falling out of love with my lover/best friend of 3 years ended up with me coming to terms with my fears, my unlovingness and tendency to control. Thank you!
I very much had a similar reaction throughout this piece Lola. <3 I too have fallen out of love with my partner and I’m still trying to piece together why. This article was exactly what I needed to read right now to learn how to better myself and address my past and how it affects my ability to maintain a relationship. I hope things get better for the both of us.
I know exactly how you feel. I feel this 100%. I can’t say things will get better, but let’s just hope for the best, and that they don’t get worse. It really does hurt when your bestfriend/boyfriend is pulling a way from you. Like the cute little kisses, the jokes, the laughter..etc. I’ve been with my guy 8 years, and it hurts everytime I think about those years draining. But, you never know what God has inspired for you. That’s why you just pray until you can’t pray anymore. Once you pray, let it be, give it to God! I know the feeling. Stay strong!! The truth will be revealed soon, and God will answer you.
My boyfriend of 2 years broke up with me because ‘he loves me, but isn’t in love with me anymore.’ I told him we’re out of the honeymoon stage and so we’re probably just in a bit of a rut because of the routine so it’s okay that he’s lost some excitement about us, but he said he doesn’t know if breaking up is the right thing to do but he felt like he had to do it in order to know. I’m completely heartbroken. We had such a good and healthy relationship and I feel completely blindsided. It’s been about 2 months and I still hope he realizes he loves me. but he’s very much a bottle up the feelings and distract himself kind of guy, so i’m scared i’ve lost him forever.
My partner of almost 12 years decided to break up with me a couple of weeks ago saying ‘I love you, but I am not in love with you anymore’. Last year he confessed me he was struggling with depression due to a lot of stress for his job, the divorce of his parents, the fear to have an incurable illness (the doctors say that he can have Rheumatoid arthritis, but it can’t be confirmed) and the death of a close relative. He started eating less, having sleeping problems, loosing interest in any activity and our intimacy started to be affected to the point we stopped any contact apart kisses and hugs.
He started to focus only on his job and nothing else. He started to avoid to stay alone with me and started to spent more time with a colleague and I started to be jealous of their relationship. More than once we had arguments about it, as I was feeling like he was replacing me with this girl and he started to be upset that I was jealous and he was showing contempt. When the lockdown started due to Covid-19, he started to work from home for several hours without any break. Then at some point he decided to go running in his lunch break and I started to suspect he was meeting with his colleague without telling me, despite it wasn’t allowed to meet people outside the household, but I convinced myself I was only paranoid.
One day I decided to join him and I took my bike to go find him to come back home together and I saw them together walking along the river and in that moment I felt like I was betrayed and my heart just broken. I went back home trying to be calm and relaxed waiting for him to come back.
When he was at home I started to ask some questions and he lied when I asked if he was meeting with someone. I then told him that I saw them together and I started to cry and told him I felt betrayed also because he lied when I asked.
He said there is nothing between them, but he needed someone to talk to and she is very understanding and he said that he didn’t like what our relationship became because of my jealousy and the fact that it was impossible to have any conversation without anger and jealousy involved and he had the feeling that I became to dependant on him.
He said he was feeling too depressed and he didn’t know how to delete everything has happened in the past year and he felt guilty that he was causing me pain and unhappiness and he said that maybe the best thing to do was to end out relationship because his depression was ruining everything. He asked me to leave him as he didn’t want to drag me in the darkness. I refused to leave him as I saw him suffering and we decided to try to do something to fix our relationship and seek help from a professional.
A couple of weeks passed, but nothing changed. Actually it started to be worse. He stopped to go out, he started to stay in bed until late on Saturdays and Sundays, he stopped going out, stopped showering and shave his beard, and everything I tried to to involve him failed. Until one Sunday morning, when he said that he wasn’t sure he loved me anymore, that he felt empty and he wasn’t sure he wanted to stay with me. He confessed that he suffered of depression in the past and he is worried that also if he can get over it now, the depression will come back at some point. He said he had to be alone as he needed to understand his feeling but with me in the house it was impossible.
For me was like a hearth-quake came and destroyed everything and I was devastated. His colleague contacted me and she said she wanted to talk to me as she knew about his mental health issues. She told me that she noticed him very unhappy, but she didn’t know we had problems until he told her. She wanted to confirm that they aren’t seeing each other but they are very good friends and she tried to help him to face his problems and convince him to seek professional help. She told me he confessed that he was unhappy and he felt guilty to end the relationship because he didn’t want to make me suffer, but I had to accept that he didn’t want to stay with me anymore.
I couldn’t do anything else to make him change his idea and I accepted to let him go with the death in my heart. From that day he changed behaviour, he started to shower again, he shaved, he started to go out for a walk. He was like a new person and I started to think that he faked his depression to make me go away. I also thought that he is probably faking now; he put a mask to seem relieved to convince everyone that now he is happy and he was suffering about the situation.
He stayed in our house for more 2 weeks since the break up and he was sleeping in the spare room. Despite he told me that he was going away he wasn’t looking for a new apartment, until I told him that I found a new place and I was moving out in a month, as I couldn’t live in a place where there are so many memories. Only at that point he started to look for a new place and he moved out recently. It seems like he didn’t want to do the first step.
The day he moved out his colleague helped him to move all his stuff and I started to have again the feeling that they are seeing each other.
When he finished to collect all his stuff, he came to say goodbye (he wants to remain friends and he will help me for the moving) and he asked if he could hug me. At the beginning I hesitated, but then I hugged him and I started to cry. He cried as well and I told him that I loved him so much and to take care of himself and to ask help and solve his issues. He said that he loved me as well and I was the most important person in his life and he doesn’t want to loose me, but I also have to take care of myself and I have a long journey ahead.
Since he moved out I live like in an alternative reality, I still think that it didn’t happen and I hope that once he stays alone in his house, he starts to think and he will change his mind.
I read a lot about depression in this period and I found out that sometimes depressed partners may refuse to face the inner pain that’s wrecking their lives. Rather than seek treatment, they come to believe that it’s the existing relationship that is ruining them. Their answer is often to leave and find happiness elsewhere.
I know that I have to think about myself now and I have to do something to heal, but I’m still very concerned about him.
Most of the times I think that I want to come back together and start again, but I’m also worried that if this has happened once, it will probably happen again.
The only thing I’m sure is that I love him so much that I don’t want to loose him forever.
Thanks for sharing! I am a hopeless romantic that’s lost in love! My partner and mother of my children for over 13 years has told me that she has fallen out of love! This has crippled everything that I believed and valued in the thought of love and relationships.. I have had hope for months that this was a “phase” that just required me to convince Denise that anything that I may of done to upset or discourage her love and our bond was done without intent and with full regret. I hoped that whatever I may of done wouldn’t be the focus but instead please allow MY love to prove to her, how grateful I am to have her in my life and how sorry I am to allowed myself to do anything that could of allowed you to doubt who I was or how I truly feel. I pray she falls back into love.. I’m not sure where this is going but the trauma I’m feeling is killing me.
I hope you are healing, Rosie. My heart broke reading your post. My marriage of 12 years ended in January, after several years of both of us trying to make it work, and it just doesn’t. It will get better, I promise. I’m sorry you’re hurting so badly now.
I thought I was falling out of love because I was scared of losing my girlfriend of 4 months… I’ve lost the feelings and am willing to do whatever it takes to gain those feelings back. I love her so much and am not ready to give up. I want to hopefully one day… Make her mine, but I let depression and fears get in the way of what we once had. Thank you for this article, it really opened my eyes and make me feel stronger and calmer.
I am currently in a situation where I asked my husband to move out. His priorities were lost and I have been putting up with it for quite some time now and Im fed up. I asked for some space and hes asking for me to at least try. I have been trying and ive been asking for the same things over and over. I dont want to keep trying. right now there is no love and i just want to be done. We have been married 4 years with two children, thats what makes this hard.
I am far from certain that I am falling out of love with my significant other of 6 years, but the fact I am scrolling through articles and comments trying to define what falling out of love feels like seems as if I may be on that path.
Two years ago, I would call him my best friend and dreamed of our future. When I think of our future now, there are so many doubts. Often times I find myself trying to ignore the doubts and move on because “it’s meant to be.” I try to ignore what the future would look like with him…am I afraid of it not working out? Do I want it to work out? Do I think we are inevitably going to fail?
He says I am the one and talks about our future from time to time, but I can’t tell if he is genuinely happy or putting on a front. Have we both fallen out of love? Has our relationship lasted so long that we believe this is what love should feel like?
We bicker and argue about stupid stuff. There is blame and competition. We have never struggled with infidelity and prioritize each other first. He truly is an amazing guy – I want the greatest love for him…I’m just not sure if that’s me.
I feel so lost
My SO of 3 years (We have been Friends for seven years) started acting distant since last year. We barely saw each other, maybe just 10 times , but everything felt great in that dates, until I started feeling he was acting cold and I started feeling hurt for not seing him interested in meeting more.
So after months of crying and not feeling well I decided to go to his house to ask him if he still wanted to be my partner, He started with the phrase “I just don’t feel the same”, in that moment I started crying and wondering what I did wrong…Then he started crying too, we had a long emotional conversation, he said breaking up with me could be the worst mistake he could make. (He has the tendency to cut people out of his life to avoid being hurt, he actually did this with one of his best friends a year before).
I asked him why did he keep inviting me to his family trips and that that was confusing for me and he say that he enjoyed being with me…
He couldnt decide if he wanted to break up and asked me for some time to think so I gave him a week. After that week he came to my house and we both were more calm so I let him speak.
He told me he felt he lost himself in the relationship, I felt the same (We studied together for 2 years and saw each other daily)… He said he was hurt from a situation a while ago, but never told me about it. Other thing he asked me was if I truly liked him, if I thought he was atractive… I have never liked anyone like I like him. I really wish I could wake up and see his face close to mine everyday.
After that day we decided to work in the issues which were totally fixable.
Everything seemed better, we even make a weekend trip alone and conected more than never and then… he started to isolate and not wanting to meet again.
The last time we saw each other he talked about saving money for a trip next year and about sharing an apartment, I was all in with these but, I felt I could not express it because , other times we meet he would say he was interested in living alone or with a friend, that he wanted to know how it feels to live alone and to discover himself (I felt excluded, but never told him, I didnt wanted to pressure him)… Also everything felt inconsistent so I didnt felt secure.
Again I started to feel really hurt I wanted to share more with him .I texted him this and he replied “My therapist thinks I may have depression” When he told me this I started thinking about all the little signs he has been showing… He stopped doing the thinks he liked, he didnt felt well in his house and the relationship with his family, he didnt want to go out, he spend hours and hours watching social media, he told me he felt numb, he did not feel excited about anything…
I showed my support but this just pushed him away…He started talking to me like I was an stranger and this was hurting me so so much . I asked him if there was anything wrong and he said ” I am not mad or anything” Then I asked more directly if something was happening between us… Again he asked for some time to think how he was feeling.
Three weeks ago we meet and I just let him talk and he started crying ,again he wasnt able to break up with me. He told me I am the most amazing person he has ever meet, that he admires me so much, that I am too good and he is not, that he only brings bad things to the relationship, that he is not good enough, that if we live together I will see him while he is depressed then he said he was unable to access his feelings. He looked really tired and confused , I could see in his eyes he is really having a hard time so I decided to take off the pressure of a relationship and told him we could still be Friends ( I don’t really know if I can because I really imagine us living together and growing old together as a couple)
I let him go , that same day, he wrote me when he got home and asked me to watch a movie together via Discord, I accepted… I could hear his voice breaking when he talked and he said “I am going to get my shit together”…
After that we continue talking as friends, but I didnt feel well, I felt I couldnt be myself so I told him it was being really hard for me. He called me and told me he didnt felt better with just being friends, he said he wanted to live together and that I was the only one he wanted to be with but… that he needed to talk to his therapist about it. I told him I wanted to be with him if he truly wanted, at the end of the call I said bye,he didnt.
After that I was specting he would told me something if he had discussed with his therapist about us. He didnt say anything, we keep having small interactions vía text but I didnt feel well again …So I wrote him a really big message about how I felt and that I really wanted him to be ok and get better and that I needed to stop talking for at least a couple of months. He accepted it.
I have spend a really good amount of time reading about depression, about types of attachtments, about how men fear commitment, about insecurity, about fear of emotional intimacy ( he really fears sharing personal things) to try to find answers to how someone can tell you that wants to live with you and 3 days later threat you like a stranger.
I am exhausted but I keep holding up to hope… I don’t know if this is good, because I felt like I am gonna break if he only wants to be Friends. I miss him … When we were together I just forget about the rest of the world, I feel happy and really peaceful.
I was looking for some answers for my issues, which doesn’t quite seem to match up to most of the posts! BUT, I’m still confused and hurting a bit over it!! I have known this person/woman for over 13 years! She was my neighbor for 8 years! She was the most wonderful neighbor anyone could hope for. We’d have many talks, while we were taking care of our yards(at the same time)! For whatever reason, she started to buy me gifts, cook me food and “For no reason other than she wanted to”! I’d tell her not to, but she’d tell me, “don’t worry about it, she wanted to do those things for me”!! I hadn’t felt this good about life for a long time.. She eventually moved out of that house.. A few months later, she contacted me again and wanted to talk! We began a “telephone relationship” which lasted for a short while, then suddenly “the warmth of our conversations” cooled and suddenly slowed down.. to almost nothing! THEN, some time passed and she called me again, kind of acting different and kind of confused! I could tell there was something there that was bothering her, “internally”!?! I asked what had happened to her, why she wasn’t returning my calls, and her only answer was(starting with a sigh)”I don’t know why”?? I know, from conversations with her, she was “estranged from her family”! I continued to try to keep our friendship going, after all, I knew she liked me from everything she did for me in the past.. I started to realize, “when I started to like her back and started to give her gifts” she started to change a little, like being standoffish !! After a few months later, “we stopped communicating with each other”! That lasted for about 4 – 5 years… Then after about 5 years, I get a call from her(she left me a message), she said “Hi Art, haven’t talked to you for a while, I’d really like to talk to you”!!
I couldn’t believe she was calling me again!! I got very happy to hear from her, I thought this time I’d try something different in communicating with her, “So I tried texting her”(I had just learned how to send texts)..
For the next 3-4 months it was Great, at least we were now communicating with each other, and it seemed to me, that “we were going to have a full on relationship”! She was sending me funny cartoon videos, and wonderful texts of how she felt.. This went on again for, about 4 months or so, when all of a sudden, the texts slowed down to almost nothing, and then after that, “Nothing”!!
WE Never ever, had any negative words toward each other, no arguments, Nothing!! But I could tell things were starting to change again! Now this was “a YEAR ago, in March of 2020”!! Since then, there’s almost No texts.. So I decided to call her, and forget the texts, “she seemed to be wanting the “voice conversation over the texts”!! Now, it seems to me lately, “there’s some type of Mind Games going on”? And just to be Upfront on this story, she is a “front liner” in this war on the Pandemic.. She’s a Butcher in big Grocery store chain! She works 6 days a week, with a floating day off! So in this last year since we started to communicate again in, I’ve only seen her about 5 – 6 times! There really is No dating, because of her Job, which she says : “she loves her job”! So NOW,
“what am I trying to say here?” I am Frustrated
but NOT angry!! Confused? YES!!! In this past year, I have been the more aggressive one, but NOT overly aggressive. I have bought her many “simple gifts” of the usual candy, cd’s, etc… I’ve offered her that, “I’d be there for her if she needed any help with anything, which she appreciates”.. BUT, I just don’t feel “the Love or the affection” that I feel would be a normal response “to the way I’ve been treating her”.. NOT that she’s being Rude or mean in any way, which she hasn’t!! It’s just that, “I’ve only seen her 5-6 times in a year! Is this a standard type of relationships that people strive for??? Maybe I should be happy knowing I have someone that I can communicate with verses “No One”!! So, I’m just wondering, “Should I be Happy or should I be Frustrated?? Anywho… “Such is Life”!!!
Hi,
Oh my god, I am going through the exact same as you! I am a male, and I have a female spouse. We have two little boys. She is so absorbed by her new job that she has found herself. She wants to be alone and concentrated on work. She wants space and a place of her own. I feel your pain, because I am very hurt and heartbroken. I am a man, should I not be? She says she will come home, I hope she and I can restore our love relationship
I am in a relationship of 3 years and now I don’t know what I need to do…. someone please help me.
The situation is that she looked at my social media account about 1 year ago and saw the people I’m following so I told her it’ll all go away and we’ve been good since I deleted the account and just focused on her. Now that I’ve gotten the account back after her agreeing and saying I should but I clean the account up unfollowed all those people I followed and that.
Now she has said that she’s been following my socials for a month and that she seen that I’ve started following the same accounts which I have not at all because I’m not going to risk this relationship.
Now she said she needs to get her mind right even though I have told her I haven’t and even shown her my socials
I’ve been with my SO for almost 5 years and we’ve definitely been through a lot, probably more than couples would go through in their first few years. Anyway, year 2 i started to feel quite anxious and doubts started to form and spiral and obviously impact the relationship. My partner has been so amazing, really has unconditional love throughout our 5 years but since having this anxiety and perhaps depression (which ive seeked therapy for but still there) it has intensely impacted our physical intimacy and i just don’t know if we can get it back. Lately, i had been feeling out of love and just anxious all the time about us – im not sure whether my anxiety has been the cause of all this and whether its fixable. i just don’t know what to do anymore 🙁 i really hope i can get it back…
Why are most women today really not faithful at all compared to the old days when most women really were?
Lol!
hi, same in a 12 year relationship with him. googled his behaviour just to find the answer and it’s similar to a Narc. his girl co-workers make it worst between us and judged me from head to foot as if they know us from the start and they start advising him to break up with me and he didn’t hesitate to do it every time we have a fight, I finally let him go when he changed every access i know from his phone, emails ,socmed and creditcards. I am now moving out to a new apartment with my officemate temporarily until i fly to US. a very traumatic experience for me too coz i am not a bad person to experience this kind of cruelty. Not all men have issues but most of them are and that makes the world hard to live in. I can’t afford to be in a relationship again, my anxiety and depression kick in without warning, This kind of hurting becomes normalized if you are not rude or mean you’re a weak being, always get hurt, unloved and abused.
Hi Rosie,
I am in very similar situation now Did you manage to ever get back together in the end?
Thanks!
Me and my partner of almost 11 months had a talk yesterday about relationships and love. My partner started the talk by saying that things have been kind of awkward between us for the past couple weeks and I agreed and said, “I think we’re just so far out the honeymoon phases and bc neither of us have had a relationship longer than 6 months we weren’t used to this feeling” and he said “well, yes, that could be part of it, but every time we talk an argument starts”and I talked to him a little more about us and how we can work that out but then he completely dropped a bomb on me after I told him I loved him and said “I don’t know if I love you anymore” with tears in his eyes.
I literally thought my heart stopped when he said this bc he had said he loved me a week ago and everything seemed ok that last week. I was so confused and flustered that I started babbling, crying, I was absolutely hysterical and trying to find a reason as to why he would suddenly give up on us. I asked him several questions trying to figure out why he was doing this. I asked him if it was me like maybe I was in the wrong. I asked him if I could change something about myself and if I had been doing something that made him feel like he wasn’t good enough but he said “It’s nothing you did and that’s why I feel so guilty [for ending things]”
I was (and still am) confused by his answer. He loved me wholeheartedly a week ago and despite what people who don’t know him would say looking in on this from a glance, he would NEVER cheat on me. I told him, after about an hour of us crying, holding each other, and talking in between tears, to think about it and that I didn’t want to end the relationship right now. We had talked about the future so many times and both of us envisioned every single mile stone together (marriage, children, etc.) and I knew I couldn’t just let our relationship go to waste just because he “fell out of love” seemingly without a cause.
I don’t know if it’s possible to fall out of love randomly especially after being with someone who you care about so much (he told me in the hour we talked that he cared so much about me) but it just really hurts me in ways I didn’t know could hurt. I then told him two come over to my house during New Year’s like we planned and to reevaluate our relationship then. I really don’t wanna end our relationship and I can tell that he doesn’t either because I’ve gotten so good at reading him and he’s never cried before (in front of me) until yesterday. So it’s clear something is bothering him and it hurts me that he’s not telling me what it is. I really hope he can see what we have and save it. I’ll talk to him about the stuff in this article and hopefully figure out why he wants to end it. I’m just so confused and hurt I don’t even know what to do with myself. I didn’t tell my family what happened when I got home and acting like everything is normal in front of them is physically, mentally, and emotionally taxing. I can tell my sister (who is a psychologist) noticed something was wrong at dinner and even questioned why I wasn’t eating my favorite dish my mom had made.
I hope I can move past this. I don’t know if I can though, and hopefully my partner sees our relationship as something to save. I am hoping and praying we can get through this and hopefully he’s not actually falling out of love.
Really hope the best for you two
Me and bf broke up for the 7th time. Yesterday we broke up again and it is our 8th. However, this last breakup feels something different. The next day we get back together again but it feels different. There is a big part of me that doesn’t want him anymore. But this a small part of me wants him. But still different really different. Before when we break up and get back again the is getting stronger but now it is different. We’ve been together for 1 year. When I see him it feels different. Not my usual feelings towards him. All I have are tears holding inside me. I do not feel him anymore. I want to know this different feeling I am feeling. What steps should I do????
It was so apt. Much needed text I read today. Thank you you helped exactly in a way as required. Just wow. Thank you author.
I truly love my girlfriend, bt i think shes really falling out of love with me, and i dont want her to leave, i truly love her so much and am trying everything possible to retain her, bt all my efforts seems to b in vain, the problem here is that av been too addicted to her, i dont even knw what may happen to me if she leaves.
Hi..
I know that there is no point in me writing here on this old post, but i just felt like I needed to release some emotions to what i have been feeling lately. So it’s a long shot for nothing I guess.
I am a happily (or so i thought) married man with my wife for 7 years. She is the love of my life. I’ve been an admirer ever since our days in college back in 2007. But due to our previous relationships at the time, no action was taken and she was just someone that i admire from a far. it was not until 2015 that we reconnect under different circumstances and just with a snap of the finger, everything starts to fall into place very very easily. i knew then why it never worked out with any other women before her. And the feeling was mutual. We got married just a year after we reconnect and thankfully, we are until now.
Just like any other marriage, we had our differences. We argue sometimes but it was never anything serious. The first time I notice there were issues was just a couple of years ago. Our sex life started to fade. We can have weeks before we had one. And it was always me to start. There was no intimacy. To her defence, maybe I played a huge factor on this. I stopped working out and thought that she will always love me unconditionally. We had talks about this and promised each other that we will try to work things through and tries to bring the intimacy back.
After that, we lived our life just like any other couple. We had lots of good times together with the family. We had multiple trips together. We had no issue in communication. We had lots of joy and laughter. She was always there for me; she would treat me just like any other loving wife would. Life was good. Or so I thought.
It was just recently that I found out how she was actually feeling about me, about us, about our relationship.
One night I suddenly have an urge to go through her phone. Which is something I’ve never done before. It was there where I saw a text from her friend discussing about her ‘marriage issues’. We fought. I’ve never would’ve guessed that we had issues if I were only to bank on the life we lived prior to that. It was there that I learned the truth that she has been falling out of love with me for several years.
We talked endlessly after that. We had conversations nonstop for days. It was tiring, draining and exhausting. Mentally and physically.
It was there that I learned that she lot that spark. She loves me. As a family. As the father of our wonderful son. But she cannot find it in her heart to see and love mee as her lover. She felt incomplete.
I thought that it is just a phase where everybody goes through. That love will eventually evolve as our relationship grows. But that is not what she wants.
My heart broke and was shattered to pieces. There she was. The love of my life. The one who completes me. The one who I thought share the same feelings. But the feeling was not mutual. She never knows when it fades. Or how it left. The only thing she knows is that it weren’t there anymore. She prevents herself to discuss this with me because she was afraid it will hurt me. And she wants to figure things out before finally coming to me. She did that for years.
I don’t even know how to express what I’m feeling. I’m anxious, panic, angry, confused, and scared at the same time. I’m terrified of losing the love of my life. I can only wonder where and when did it go wrong. I can only wonder what can I do to prevent it before. I can only wonder what I can do to make her fall in love again. To make her feel complete again.
We decided to go on therapy to figure things out. Her first session will be next week. But I’m still scared nonetheless. Scared of the possibility of this to end. Scared that maybe its been gone long enough that she doesn’t want to remember any of it anymore. Scared that she will just try to call it quit and leave.
I can only pray that somehow, she will be reminded of the things we had. The things we have. I can only pray that we will be able to get through all this together and this is just a phase in our relationship that we’ll overcome.
But I still have hope. I know I will never stop fighting for her love. So wish me luck.
I love you. Always have. Always will.
I wish the best for you. Hope she realizes how lucky she is to be loved like that. Going through it too. Months later I’m feeling indifferent now… sadly not sure much has changed except I’m coping better.
Oh wow, this is exactly the same as me. Was with my partner for 3 years and he said he didn’t feel as excited and that he loves me but is not in love with me anymore, he was very confused about whether he should leave, and it really broke me for a while. It’s been 6 months, and he hasn’t come back – so I guess he made the right decision. But like your ex, this guy has real internal struggles! Anyway is what it is but just really sad.
I completely feel this way.
My boyfriend and I are supposed to be moving in together in a month but lately I feel so lost when we hang out. I keep making myself believe maybe I am just under stress due to the move. But when I am with him I feel so uninterested and my stomach begins to hurt too.
I can see how excited he is for our move, he talks about it so much and he constantly asks me what things should we purchase. When I addressed to him I feel a bit out of it he mentioned I may just be a bit stressed due to the move but I do believe I may have fallen out of love.
He’s a fantastic person, such amazing energy and knows what he wants. Why do I not feel that way too? I hate the fact that even when I kiss him I feel cold about it.
I’m in the same predicament. There’s nothing I haven’t done for her, I’m madly in love with her and I literally can’t see myself love another person like I love her. Last night she told me she thinks she’s falling out of love and now I’m slipping back into depression because I don’t know what her solution to the problem is.
You know I wish my significant other saw this article as she told me last night she thinks she’s falling out of love. I was on the road for hours with her just two days ago, we hugged, kissed, did everything to show love to each other and now this. I grew up in a house of love (married parents) so I understand what love comes with, I can’t just give up on her because I’ve seen the struggles love comes with and she hasn’t. She thinks the honeymoon phase is what actual love should feel like. I can’t even get through to her so I just pray and cry myself to sleep. What hurts most is that I know we’ll break up and we’ll cross paths for a third time and get back together. I told her breaking up is pointless so let’s take a break from this relationship and when the dust has settled we’ll talk. It feels like the right decision coz I couldn’t bare the thought of us breaking up but at the same time I can’t not talk to her. Feel free to advise me on how to make it work with an impulsive thinker that’s always working coz I don’t wanna lose her.
did anything ever get better? 🙁
Hey guys! So my bf and I met online , then he came to my country to meet me in person, I felt like we connected and fell in love, he asked me to come to his country months after.. he covered all expenses! So I knew this guy must love me! A trip from Latin America to Europe is expensive so he made efforts and everything, introduced me to everyone, everything was going perfect until something happened which is a long story with his ex girlfriend trying to break us apart so after this incident , I became crazy jealous I admit it, it was my fault , I was so toxic asking dor location , pictures etc .. the day for me to leave his country was approaching and the idea of me staying here came to our minds , we both were not sure we wanted already jumped to live together but we said we will try so started civil union in February , but I’ve been so toxic since then, 3 days ago he told me he doesn’t love me anymore , made me cry , he said with my actions I have been pulling him away, there are days that he doesn’t even wanna come back home because I was questioning everything. Guys I love this man to death , we kinda got married , and I don’t wanna give up on us, I decided to take therapy I told him to give us another chance . I’ll be the best gf ever and not controlling , I told him I’d do anything for him and willing to change. He told me we can try but to not have hopes up because he is sure he doesn’t have feelings anymore. My question is can I do something so the love he had for me one day comes back? How am I supposed to act when we live together? Should I get a hotel for a week or something and take some time? I need some advice 🙁 thank you I love him so much, not ready to lose him!
it’s best way to bring your love back.
That’s what I want to know 🥲