Yes that was my guess as well. He got a direct hit in his “masculine ego” by his own mother. And that, i suppose hit pretty hard after when it comes to intimate relationships. I don’t really expect something anymore, or at least not on a short-term now, even a middle-term would be kinda too optimistic in my opinion anyway. At the moment i think i mostly want to understand what happened, to which extent his mental issues affected/affect him toward me. Everything is too recent, i don’t even want to try to move to the step forward the relation. At some point i feel like i mostly need to understand i guess.

I agree with you, there is nothing at all i can do anymore, I really miss him and i really want to try out something but, i know he’s in a vicious circle where he doesn’t consider himself worth of love and i know he needs to heal by himself as well. This is a hard pile to swallow. And i keep wondering if he really wants to keep in touch or if he’s just going a down time now. I read a lot about anxiety/depression/introversion lately, i’m aware he needs his alone time mostly after socializing but still. I can’t stop myself thinking about his intentions even tho i’m aware he must be in the same questioning phase as me.

To talk about my daddy’s issues, i was raised by a single mom therefore i don’t have a real father’s figure. I think i was looking in my previous relationships a substitute to that missing figure in my life. And this is why i dated older men (in average between 5 and 11 years older than me). Although i finally got over that issue pretty recently actually. And this younger guy is i would say (and paradoxically enough) the “healthiest” attraction i’ve ever had, in the sens that i don’t see him as any substitute, it was him, as a person i was/am attracted to.

I started to be aware of his mental issues kinda early but i found out how strong they were pretty recently. I never tried and never felt the need to fix him as i’m perfectly aware that it’s not my role anyway. I just tried to make him understand that i accepted him, not only for the good but also for his flaws. I don’t think i really succeed in this task and i wonder if it would be too late for that? Not necessarily in a romantic style but just in general. I mean, he’s a really kind person and very honest, he never tries to take advantage of a situation or of someone, that’s actually the contrary. I realized, beyond the strong and primary attraction i had/have for him, i valued him a lot as person because of his lifestyle which is actually very sane.