Dear Danielle:
You wrote above: “I love bettering myself, and i am willing to do the work to get there.” This is evident thgroughout your writing!

You wrote above that: “I need to dig deeper in myself to see why I am so worried about letting him in completely.”

You wrote: “in the process of growing and using this relationship as a tool to better myself…”

And here is my point that if you agree, and if you embark in it, I believe with much conviction, you will grow and better yourself much: the relationship IS your opportunity to open up about the very things that concern you most, this very fear, this topic here. HE KNOWS a great deal about what you are going through because he JUST DID and overcame it. So let him teach you.

Don’t try to protect him from hurt by concealing your fear, do the oppostite: SHARE with him and it will not only strengthen you, it will also strengthen the relationship.

This is not something for you to work on alone, that is within yourself- it is something to be honestly and openly be talked about with him. That is where hope is.
anita