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Need some relationship advice

So I'll try to explain this as fair as possible so it doesn't look like I'm only telling my side. I really want some advice and to know if I'm bad or what.

Me and my gf recently started having a few arguments and they'd be over petty things usually or blown out of proportion from both sides. Now let me give some back story. Initially when we met and started dating, I was very affectionate and would do anything to make her happy and always try to please her. If she was upset I couldn't sleep and would stay awake until I got a chance to make her feel better. If we were both upset I would always put aside my feelings and make her feel better. She started off a bit distant but did progress to opening up to me and being a bit affectionate but not as much as me.

Anyway after a while of doing all these things I think I started becoming more closed off after I realised she would never do the same things emotionally as I did for i.e. if we're both upset she would never ever try to make me feel better and put aside her feelings and when I asked her about this she said she was upset and shouldn't have to. I'm not sure if this was my fault as I shouldn't have expected her to do the same? I ended up feeling unloved and slowly started becoming more closed off. I felt like she didn't care as much about me.

Fast forward and she's a lot more caring but not the same as I was. We've bought each other things and she always brings this up to say that she does care. We had an argument about me playing game too much and that I never just wanna talk to her and that I always want to do something while talking to her i,e play game or watch tv. Now I've been under a lot of pressure with stuff going on in my life and I've played game and stuff as a means to just relax but I also feel like every time we talk she'll bring up something and we'll argue.

In this argument we're having, she says that I should talk to her on it's own atleast once a weak and I agreed with her and saw her point. I told her I was sorry and agreed but I got upset (rightly or wrongly) that I felt she would always criticise me and assume I'm doing things on purpose when in fact I got a lot going on. It also upset me that she did not even realise this and it felt like she only says these things because they make her upset and she doesn't care about how I'm feeling.

I admit I did a lot wrong but I wanna know whose in the wrong? Am I being a bad boyfriend and if so how should I change?
Original post by Anonymous
So I'll try to explain this as fair as possible so it doesn't look like I'm only telling my side. I really want some advice and to know if I'm bad or what.

Me and my gf recently started having a few arguments and they'd be over petty things usually or blown out of proportion from both sides. Now let me give some back story. Initially when we met and started dating, I was very affectionate and would do anything to make her happy and always try to please her. If she was upset I couldn't sleep and would stay awake until I got a chance to make her feel better. If we were both upset I would always put aside my feelings and make her feel better. She started off a bit distant but did progress to opening up to me and being a bit affectionate but not as much as me.

Anyway after a while of doing all these things I think I started becoming more closed off after I realised she would never do the same things emotionally as I did for i.e. if we're both upset she would never ever try to make me feel better and put aside her feelings and when I asked her about this she said she was upset and shouldn't have to. I'm not sure if this was my fault as I shouldn't have expected her to do the same? I ended up feeling unloved and slowly started becoming more closed off. I felt like she didn't care as much about me.

Fast forward and she's a lot more caring but not the same as I was. We've bought each other things and she always brings this up to say that she does care. We had an argument about me playing game too much and that I never just wanna talk to her and that I always want to do something while talking to her i,e play game or watch tv. Now I've been under a lot of pressure with stuff going on in my life and I've played game and stuff as a means to just relax but I also feel like every time we talk she'll bring up something and we'll argue.

In this argument we're having, she says that I should talk to her on it's own atleast once a weak and I agreed with her and saw her point. I told her I was sorry and agreed but I got upset (rightly or wrongly) that I felt she would always criticise me and assume I'm doing things on purpose when in fact I got a lot going on. It also upset me that she did not even realise this and it felt like she only says these things because they make her upset and she doesn't care about how I'm feeling.

I admit I did a lot wrong but I wanna know whose in the wrong? Am I being a bad boyfriend and if so how should I change?


So you're saying that usually when you talk to her, you'd be doing something else at the same time? Do you plan to do things together much? I think you should tell her how your feeling but regardless of whether you're feeling stressed or not, if you only talk to your girlfriend when you're doing something else at the same time i can understand why she would be a bit upset.
Reply 2
I don't think it's as simple as one is good and one is bad.

Yeah sure, you could not play games so much. But, you've also said that she isn't supportive of you and that you'd feel criticised - so it makes perfect sense that you would seek a different way to destress.

You need to decide if you can compromise the support style she offers vs what you want. Or whether you really need someone who values your need for support as much as they value your gift for providing it.

Many men struggle to talk and it can be for many different reasons. We often blame masculinity when actually it can be that the environment they are in just isn't supportive enough of what they want to say.
Reply 3
Original post by claireestelle
So you're saying that usually when you talk to her, you'd be doing something else at the same time? Do you plan to do things together much? I think you should tell her how your feeling but regardless of whether you're feeling stressed or not, if you only talk to your girlfriend when you're doing something else at the same time i can understand why she would be a bit upset.


For example, I'd be playing game but would then ring her or something and do both which I agreed with her was selfish towards her. Yeah we do plan to do things together but we rarely see eachother because of distance and stuff going on currently. My only issue is that she got upset about me behaving differently and told me to change because she felt sad and she never even asked me if I was okay or if there was a reason. Am I being too sensitive?

Original post by ~Tara~
I don't think it's as simple as one is good and one is bad.

Yeah sure, you could not play games so much. But, you've also said that she isn't supportive of you and that you'd feel criticised - so it makes perfect sense that you would seek a different way to destress.

You need to decide if you can compromise the support style she offers vs what you want. Or whether you really need someone who values your need for support as much as they value your gift for providing it.

Many men struggle to talk and it can be for many different reasons. We often blame masculinity when actually it can be that the environment they are in just isn't supportive enough of what they want to say.


Yeah I mean even myself I don't know why I do it but I feel like when I talk to her I can't really relax and playing game is the only way to unwind these days. I just feel like she only cares about when she's upset and tries to "fix" things so she doesn't feel sad. I feel like she looks for any excuse not to want to make me feel better when we're both upset even do I used to always make her feel better in the same situation. I'm not perfect and I admit that and when this does get brought up recently I just get frustrated with the whole situation as I feel like she paints me out to be some kind of prick when I do stuff like playing game and talk to her.

I do tend to forget some of the stuff she says she gets upset about but that's recently because of what else is going on and the stress im going through and I told her this and that I'm sorry but I feel like she doesn't understand me. Like she won't give me the benefit of the doubt. I need someone who's clear headed and has no affiliation to either of us or the situation to give some input on stuff we're each doing wrong and need to change.
Original post by Anonymous
For example, I'd be playing game but would then ring her or something and do both which I agreed with her was selfish towards her. Yeah we do plan to do things together but we rarely see eachother because of distance and stuff going on currently. My only issue is that she got upset about me behaving differently and told me to change because she felt sad and she never even asked me if I was okay or if there was a reason. Am I being too sensitive?
I feel like when I talk to her I can't really relax


I think you both seriously need to work on your communication as neither of you seem great at communicating your feelings, its worrying that you can't relax when you speak to her, you might need to work on whats causing you to be stressed though. If you dont see each other much communication is especially important as without it a relationship doesnt really work.

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