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Help: Long Distance Break Up

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  • #120731
    Elvia Carter
    Participant

    Hello everyone

    The title already says what I am going to be talking about for the next few paragraphs. Just a month ago, I have ended the long distance relationship with my boyfriend. He was an exchange student in my university and was here for over a year (he did an exchange for two consecutive semesters). Our first semester together, we were just two good friends. We had a lot of fun doing acitivities together. We were both in planning committee for our college events, we lived in the same dormitory. We had a lot of mutual friends. Second semester, we got even closer, romantic feelings developed and we started dating despite BOTH OF US not hopeful about the uncertain future but we wanted to give it a try. We dated for about four to five months then he had to leave the country to continue his education back at his university. So we embarked on long distance and it was just bad. It was worse than what we expected. He is not very good at communication. I took more initiatives. Before long, I was unhappy with his effort. It was not that he did not try completely. He did. But it was not enough for me to be pleased. He did not give me enough assurance and security about this relationship. So after much thinking, I suddenly said I wanted to break up. At first, he was not sure about the break up but after one or two days, he said that he could not do long distance anymore. So he solidified the break up. I wanted him to at least convince me that this could work or make promises that he would try harder. But he just gave up. This broke my heart and all I had to do was stick to our decision.

    It had been a month since we decided. And we contacted a few times during this time. The contact usually goes like me being emotional and feeling upset about the break up while him being so neutral and calm. This is texting only btw. We no longer called each other since the break up. He does reply miss yous to my miss yous or love you to my drunk love yous texts. But I don’t think I should look too much into those texts. He seems determined more than ever not to do ldr. And he seemed to be more in control over his emotions. I think I am having a harder time here because I am still living in the same dormitory and same campus when we hanged out a lot. So there are physical evidences of our love around me. For him, he is back in his college when he is in a completely different environment surrounded by people who do not know me at all. I have it tough here.

    The thing is that I am having a hard time moving on from this relationship. When we were together, we were really compatible. He made me feel extremely happy. We started off as friends so our foundation of trust and friendship was already there. When we were a couple, it just became better. Conversation flows. But one thing I love about with him is our silences. Our silences are wonderful and peaceful without that awkwardness. I truly enjoy his company. We have fun doing things together. Our love language is spending quality time together. So we did that a lot. He made me feel so comfortable and at peace. We did have our misunderstandings. But they were all due to miscommunication and after talking things out calmly, we were fine again with no hard feelings. I had previous relationships before and what I had with him was something I never had. It was a great emotional connection and he fulfilled all the characteristics and personality traits I needed in a partner.

    The reasons I broke up with him were more of practical reasons than incompatibility. We could not be together in the same place for the next three or four years. I had not figured out my career choices and his post grad studies had to be in his country. So with my ex’s bad communication skills, my own expectations in long distance, would not really fare well for many years of long distance. That is why though we still love each other, we decided to break it off.

    My question is how I should get over him. I have to get over him. It is not practical in my opinion to sustain this kind of relationship. I know many couples do ldr out there but when your partner and you are of different nationalities, there are sacrifices involved like moving away from family and friends. I feel like we both are not ready to make a commitment like that with the possibility of huge commitments like that in future. But it has been a month and I have been rethinking a lot about this decision. He really feels like my right guy. But the circumstances are not making it possible. So my question is me thinking about him being such a right partner…is this just post break up thinking or will I eventually get over it? I am not sure I can get over him completely with the way we ended things. So how do I get past this feeling of rightness with someone and still manage to get over this loss of love that I feel so right? How do I prepare myself in future if he ever finds someone else? Because that will wreck me up. Because it will make me feel like though I feel he is my right guy, he probably does not feel that? How do i mentally prepare myself for such events?

    Sorry. This is a long post. TLDR : I need advice how to get over a GOOD ldr break up when I feel like he is my ‘soulmate’?

    #120750
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear colourpopz:

    You wrote: “He did not give me enough assurance and security about this relationship. So after much thinking, I suddenly said I wanted to break up… I wanted him to at least convince me that this could work or make promises that he would try harder. But he just gave up.”

    He wasn’t able to give you the assurance and security about the relationship and he communicated that to you just that before he left the country (“we started dating despite BOTH OF US not hopeful about the uncertain future”). So it wasn’t reasonable or realistic to expect such assurance and security.

    When you suggested the break up you didn’t fully mean it. You suggested the breakup so to motivate him to talk you out of it and to provide you with the assurance and security he wasn’t able to provide you.

    And now, I understand, he is definitely not interested in a LDR.

    Before I try to answer your question, my question is:

    Is the relationship absolutely over, as far as he is concerned?

    anita

    #120754
    Elvia Carter
    Participant

    Hello! Thank you for your post.

    Well. From our contact so far, I would say yes the relationship is over. Though at first I did not want the break up or currently I am still rethinking, I am also unsure if I want the ldr with him. I don’t think I will be happy with him in the Long run (ldr) if he doesn’t put in his 100%. So I dun see this working out as Long as we both have distance between us. From his recent texts, he does still care about me. It is actually weird. The other day, I texted him (drunk) and he wanted to call me the next day to catch up. But I refused the call the next day when I get sobered up. Lol. Deep down inside my heart, I myself do not want this Long distance. So I really want to know the answers to my questions. I feel like he is perfect for me when we were together. Only distance and our career choices aren’t aligned so we chose this decision. Thank you very much for your time.

    #120760
    Nina Sakura
    Participant

    Hey colorpopz,

    I know it’s hard now and you are hurting though you are trying hard to feel normal.

    It will be a while before you really do.

    The memories are still strong and people don’t have magic switches to turn on and switch off feelings.

    If it was meant to be, it would have worked – otherwise maybe someone else is meant for you, just that these set of experiences will provide you with more maturity, perspective to see that when it happens.

    Be glad you had something magical and wonderful memories. Say your goodbye and really let him go – stopping contact for a while is the best way to disengage.

    Then there’s diving straight into your own life and circle of family, friends and activities.

    The nights you feel like crying will come, the time in campus you will remember something and feel like crying will come but hold on despite it…this too shall pass.

    Regards,
    Nina

    #120761
    Elvia Carter
    Participant

    Thank you very much for your kind reply. I hope you are right that it is not meant to be if it did not work out. But it is hard to wrap my mind around that idea right now. Simply because I still believe we would be good together if we don’t have distance between us. But I am accepting the reality and moving on without feeling bitter or negativity in this whole situation. Thank you for your response. Appreciate it very much.

    #120765
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear colourpopz:

    You asked how to get over a good relationship, one with who you feel was your “soulmate”, a relationship that ended because of the incompatible distance (and different countries), and career choices.

    Write down, and be very specific about it, what made him your soulmate. You will have to believe that it is possible for you to meet another soulmate, in order to give up on this soulmate.

    If you believe there is only one soulmate, you are in danger of forever-comparing any future boyfriend to this guy, and finding the current boyfriend lacking. And so, simply because ANY future boyfriend cannot possibly be identical to this guy, he will never feel right for you.

    If you want, you can do this writing here and we can take it from there.

    anita

    #120767
    Elvia Carter
    Participant

    Okay. I will write down the reasons why I feel that he is my person.

    First is his upbringing and background. He was brought in Islamic family yet since he was young, he rebelled against the idea of Islam and religion in general. Now he is the only one Non-Muslim in his family or family friends. He can’t believe the idea of God. He has been very strong about his beliefs. I am from a strong Therevada Buddhist family and still am a Buddhist. I had always been the seeker of truth and never believe the idea of God (Buddhism rebutt the existence of God). We got closer together because of our spiritual beliefs. He himself is a seeker of truth and he likes the idea of Buddhism much more than any religions out there. His traumatic childhood and his feelings of loneliness and isolation, I completely understand him. I understand his reasons for his beliefs because I feel the same way too. The fact that he is interested in the same spirituality as me is also a very mind blowing factor.

    Second is our strengths and weaknesses complement each other. He is not an optimistic person. Whereas I have a more positive view on life. But I can be very dreamy and idealistic while he is more logical, rational and realistic. This is not incompatibility because we never fought over it. Rather our differences made us a very strong team when we were together. He felt down and sad easily from setbacks due to his pessimistic nature and I was always there encouraging him with positive words. When I was impulsive and reckless regarding my relationships with my parents, he was there to rationalise the situation for me wjen I was simply overwhelmed with emotions.

    Another thing is intuition or gut feeling or whatever. I have slept (non-sexual) with my lovers before. When they cuddled with me or when I was in their arms, I never felt right. It felt wrong to wake up in their arms or to fall asleep in their arms. With my recent ex, it was not like that at all. Every morning I woke up beside him was burst of happiness welling up inside me. When we fall asleep together, it is just peaceful. In his company, I just feel a strong sense of belonging and rightness and peace. The only emotion I can recall is peace. Not even passionate though we have our passionate moments. Most of the time is just this sense of peace and calmity washing over us. Never felt so comfortable in another human being presence. Till now, we are no longer in contact yet my gut instincts tell me that he is not going to be gone like that in my life. Our connection is very strong. We get each other and it is crazy to even be saying this.

    And I dun think I am the only feeling this because when he was here, he told me in his words that I feel like his soulmate and sometimes he would say things like “I feel like I am home when I am with you” (after not seeing each other for a few days). I felt his love. I felt his genuinity.

    But despite all the greatness and my feelings, I want to focus my attention on something else hence I need to get over this. I feel that if he is meant to be my soulmate or the love of my life, he would eventually find his way home. Yeah thanks for reading. I am having a hard time going through this break up because this relationship has been one of the best things happened to me.

    Fun fact:
    When we first met during orientation at my university, I immediately noticed him and found him intriguing. It was not because I found him good looking (though he is but he is not the conventional good looking). It was more of his presence and how he held himself. I found him interesting. He said he noticed me too. He wanted to get to know me better. But during orientation, we were in different groups so we didn’t have opportunities to talk. And he kind of liked me since the first semester but I was that time very much not interested in dating and only saw him as a Friend ( I didn’t know that he liked me at all)

    • This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by Elvia Carter.
    #120770
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear colourpopz:

    You felt that he was your soulmate (and he felt it too) because he is a seeker of truth, as are you; both not believers of a god. And because his logical, realistic thinking complemented your emotional tendency to be overly positive. The two of you accepted and respected each other, not trying to change the other (this is why you felt safe and comfortable in his arms).

    Do you believe you can find this combination in another man?

    A side note: if he is the only non-Muslim in his family and friends, and is back living with them, and while he was with you, he was away from them, what that means to me is that while he was away from his family and friends, with you, it was easier for him to be him. Back where he is living, life is more difficult for him. There must be pressure exerted on him by his family and friends to return to Islam. With you he had a break from this pressure. It is possible that he can be your soulmate, as he has been, only when living away from them, as he did when he was with you.

    anita

    #120771
    Elvia Carter
    Participant

    Thanks for your quick reply.

    Honestly I am not sure I can find the qualities I love in him in another man. The things I love about him as you can see are not superficial. They are (what I feel) emotional compatibility. Another thing I like about him is that he is extremely patient. Very sweet temperer which is another complement to my short temper. I am not sure I can find all these in another man. But I dun want to say a blind statement that I would not find another love again. Because me at 21 might be suitable with this guy but me at 25 might have other emotional needs that someone else might be able to fulfil better. But at this point in my life right now, I still feel like I could not be able to love another person the way I did towards him and find another soulful connection. And yes you are right. He does not like to be surrounded by people who believed in different things. He often told me (during ldr) that he feels like a different person in UK. It is another aspect of his personality, he said. And also there were this awful relationship he went through two years before me, which involved financial and emotional stress on his parents’part. He still feels guilty about that burden he put on his parents. And I think he wants to make his parents happy. And his Mother is worried that I will hurt him because of Long distance and all. There is a lot of emotional investment when there is very little hope for the future. He expressed those concerns for me as well. And ldr is expensive with lots of visits. He doesn’t wanna ask his parents for money again especially to maintain his relationship. He was working before we broke up to save up to come but somehow along the way, things didn’t work out 🙁 With his ex, when he was away at college, he got an apartment on campus and lived with his ex. And he told me that his ex cheated money on him and also was unfaithful. Sigh. I think now you get the rough idea about why he might have made the decision to break his ldr off. It is not just distance.

    #120773
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear colourpopz:

    You wrote: ” He often told me (during ldr) that he feels like a different person in UK”- don’t take this statement lightly, especially because he said it to you often.

    He reads to me, from your sharing, like an authentic and honest man. Unfortunately, he is not unattached. His attachment to his parents, his guilt associated with them, these are a big part of his makeup at this point.

    What the statement I quoted means to me is that during the time he was in the UK he was different from who he was in his home country, and he is presently different from the way he was when in the UK. He can be that soulmate only if he lives away from his parents. Only if he stays away from his parents. Only if he lives in your country.

    If he is not planning on living away from his parents and friends, then whether him being a soulmate to you is irrelevant. List those things you like so much about who he WAS (and is not likely to be THERE), and do your best to locate these traits in another man, in the future. Be open to the fact that the new man will be different but as wonderful to be with. Make sure, above all, that the future man will be accepting of you, respecting of you as he was (don’t compromise on this one thing)- that will make being in his arms safe and comfortable.

    anita

    #120774
    Elvia Carter
    Participant

    Woah. I just had a light bulb lit up in my brain at the moment. You are very wise, Anita. What you said makes complete sense to me. I feel like this is his own issue and his own journey that he had to find the real him. He did tell me that when he was in my country, he felt more like himself. And the fact that I have no idea of how he is like back in his hometown probably contributes to the factor that he does not feel as strongly as he did when he was with me. But you said that the side of him in his country is also a part of him – a part that I don’t have the chance to know at all. That means that I could not completely conclude that we would be good together in every sense. Thank you for this insight. I think writing all these down is therapeutic in a way. I am going to stay positive for the future. Right now, it is very tough for me to get over this man. He is really a good man. Not as a boyfriend or a partner, as a friend. He has very good reputation in my college because people know him as kind hearted and genuinely nice guy. I guess time will heal everything. And hopefully I can get over all the hurt and loss of this relationship and have the courage to love someone again. Thank you very much.

    #120775
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear colourpopz:

    You are welcome. Since you found this helpful, feel free to post again any time you need to.

    As he continues to live in his home country, the longer he is there, the less and less (most likely) he will fit the soulmate-memories you have of him. It is extremely difficult to hold on to certain ways when such are disapproved of, frowned upon and otherwise discouraged day in and day out, week after week, month after month. I don’t know if any person can withstand such pressure. Such pressure is simply too distressing, and people give in.

    anita

    #203953
    Jane
    Participant

    I would first like to apologise for the fact that this reply does not offer any advice, rather lets me connect with someone who has been through something extremely similar to what I am going through now. I would like to know how you managed to overcome the feeling because at this point it just seems insurmountable. Earlier this month I ended my relationship with this university senior who graduated. The operative word would however be “we ended” and I know for a fact, taking into account practicalities, that it was the right thing to do. I am in the initial phase of a doctoral program and would need four years for completion. We are also from different cities and have completely different career trajectories. Given all that, it was the most practical decision to take and I know that for a fact. In fact I had started preparing myself for this moment quite some time back, but now that I am living this phase, I’m finding myself missing him a bit too much. I have come to terms with the fact that I would probably never see him again, but the idea that what we had would be lost, after how we got together, upsets me. I write “how we got together” because it was a series of coincidences, which is a story probably for a later time.

    He is not the first person I have been with, but with him it was just right. With him, I could have the kind of conversation I had wanted to have with previous boyfriends, but who were not into such issues. The conversation flowed beautifully, be it something frivolous or serious. I used to be extremely conscious of not bothering the person I am sleeping next to , with my previous boyfriends, but with him, I was too comfortable. I felt at peace and sheltered in his arms, something which I have not experienced before.

    While the semester was drawing to a close, he confessed that he wished we had gotten together earlier so that we could have more time and I agreed that I would have liked that too.

    Since he left after graduation, we had been minimizing texts and have, for some time now, been in absolutely no contact. I know this is fro the best because it’s not healthy to hold on to a ghost forever. I am also interacting with newer people outside my work, which is quite demanding since my thesis work has started. But with some horror I have realized, I try to create what I used to have with him, with some new acquaintances and then realize what I am looking for is him. I believe it is harder for me because I am stuck in my old place in the campus with several years ahead of me before there is a change of scenery while he has moved from one phase to another and is looking at a new beginning with his job and life in a different city. I know for a fact I wouldn’t have been this upset had I been the one making this transition earlier and the feeling of being “left behind” is one factor that’s probably making things gloomier. Moreover he is way more social than I am, and it’s literally draining for me to socialize in large groups.

    This post got longer than I had expected , but just wanted to know how you coped. also any advice on how to stop missing him.

    Thanks

    #219759
    Colorfulsky
    Participant

    Wow, it’s amazing how I can finally come across someone with similar experience. It’s been almost 2 years since you started this thread, so I hope you are doing much better now, whether or not you have found your way to get over your ex as you wished.

    My breakup happened about a year ago. It was also with the person who I thought was the love of my life. When we started, I immiediately knew what we had was “real”. There was no game. We found peace in each other’s company and loved, respected each other and supported the other’s dreams. Like you said, it felt right for both of us, since that’s what he told me too. The thing is, we were in two different continents and we simple had so much to figure out for our lives. I was devastated when we broke up. It would have been easy if he had cheated on me, or he had been a terrible person, or if we had fought a lot. But we were none of those things. He is a good person, and we loved each other. We were simply not in a good place in our lives to commit to another person.

    I am tired of my friends saying I need to forget and move on. I know they mean well, but it doesn’t work that way for me. I don’t want to be cynical and lose faith in love, since it exists and it even happened to me. I don’t believe that I will not find anyone else either. But I am still carrying so much of our history because it’s one of the best things that have happened to me. I know there are good guys out there. It’s just, and I guess you know what I am saying @colourpopz, once you have found something so precious, even though he is not perfect, you just know in your gut this is your person. Not sure if that will change over time.

    Anyway, thank you for sharing. Your story made me feel understood and I couldn’t help but shared mine. Take care y’all.

     

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