Hi Jen,

First of all, good for you for taking care of yourself.

Second, you asked that if you walk away from a romantic relationship that you two still can have some sort of relationship?

I see it takes both parties to figure out what sort of relationship that they want.

It seems with him, he wants a “loose” non-demanding, uncommitted relationship with benefits.

You want more of a traditional, committed, romantic boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

You two can negotiate the kind that works for both of you … or not.

The thing with “relationship” is that we each come to the table with a set of expectations on what that looks like and how the other should behave.

The work is to figure out and agree between the two people on having a mutually agreed on way of relating.

It is hard to determine whether or not keep apart is a better way of going until you actually try it.  However, it is good to be clear on what you want for yourself and whether or not you will be getting that by staying together.

Make sense?

Mark

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Mark.