Dear Anita,

I would like to add onto my previous post. I’m struggling to determine how I should react in certain situations involving communication. It is difficult for me to know how to respond to someone (my girlfriend) when I feel threatened or I feel that she is being distant or “short” with me. When I suspect this, it makes me not want to respond with much effort, leads me to negative thoughts about her and her past, and makes me want to wait for her to say what I want to hear. It’s really tough knowing where to draw the line between something being my fault and something being her fault. I don’t know if I get upset because of how hard I feel like I try a majority of the time which sometimes results in disappointment or because there’s actually a good reason to be. The hard part, as I’ve mentioned before, is that my current relationship (until summer is over) involves long distance and communication through texting and sending each other pictures through an app called “Snapchat”. I know technology doesn’t make communicating better, rather just adds more of it with little emotion and understanding.

I know I’m asking a lot, so I really appreciate everything you are doing to help.

Scott