my boyfriend and i broke up today, and i think it’s telling that i’m more relieved than sad right now. he is my absolute best friend, and i adore him. he has seen me through so much, and he will always be one of the most important people in the world to me.
but i think i’ve been wearing rose-coloured glasses since we made it official, because the reality is, our dynamic changed a long time ago. it’s always me being his shoulder to cry on, because i haven’t been comfortable with telling him my struggles or anything unpleasant going on in my life in years. he was barely around on my 22nd birthday, and wasn’t around at all on my 21st, and while it wasn’t really his fault either time, it still hurt and made me feel unimportant and like i wasn’t a priority to him. i’m still hurt, and i don’t feel like i can tell him that i’m hurt. that’s another problem. he hasn’t fulfilled any of the promises he made to me when we got together. it was all talk, just like i feared it was. he makes me feel unappreciated when i listen to him vent. i’m his shoulder to cry on, and he makes me feel like it doesn’t matter.
i don’t want to villianize him or make him sound awful, because he’s not. he’s mentally ill and struggling, just like i’m mentally ill and struggling. grief has changed us both tremendously, both personally and in terms of our friendship, and i think it’s time for me to accept that. we aren’t kids in high school anymore. our friendship isn’t what it was. i was silly to pretend that being his girlfriend would mean i’m magically no longer hurt by some of the things he’s said and done. i was silly to think it would magically make us no longer mentally ill.
i don’t know what this means for us moving forward, and that scares me. i don’t know if he’ll still be my best friend. i don’t know if he’ll still be the first person i want to tell things to, or if he even still is. i just know that i need things from him that he can’t give, and he needs things from me that i can’t give. i just know that i still want him to be my friend. i just know that i don’t want to lose him.
i don’t know what our dynamic will look like moving forward, or how awkward this’ll probably make things, but i know it’s time for me to evaluate myself, my life, and what i need and deserve from the people in it.