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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Struggling relationship, to work on it or is there no hope?

82 replies

WhatToDoHmmm · 19/04/2021 14:39

Hi everyone,

My partner and I have been together over 3 years but on and off for a little over a year. We don't live together.

There's been a lot of issues we've been trying to work on, however a few remain still.

  1. No intellectual/ deep conversations..

We've had 1 deep conversation at the begining of our relationship and that was one he brought up about his ex.

We've had none since, I've made it clear so many times I need conversation and deep one's. Not just to sit and watch telly.

However, this has yet to happen.

  1. No act of service or 'planned dates'

So we used to date and go to the pub when we were first together, however this isn't my cup of tea so to speak. We've also been to the cinema a few times. But that dwindled within the first year and a half.

Things started to get really tough and I left a few times where my boundaries were crossed and behaviours displayed made me feel uneasy.

We rarely eat together and when we do it's take away foods.

We don't go out together (even for a walk) lockdown obviously has contributed to this.

Recently I've invited him round when I've had a bonfire in the garden (with my son) and when I had a child free 24 hours.

Although the child free time was for me to mainly catch up on my studies.

I carved out a few hours of my time to spend with him still and work on our connection.

However, no matter how much we tried no deep conversations came of it.

(he stayed the night for the first time in months).

In the morning we didn't eat breakfast together, he mostly stayed in bed untill he left at around 11am. I sat next to him in bed (feeling really weighed down) and ended up snapping at things he said because I just didn't agree with them or the small talk. Then I sat there and done some of my studying....

I need more and he knows it, yet it's like we have completely different values and outlooks on life.

I'm just not sure I can keep going on like this.

After he left, the small talk via messaging began again and I expressed that I'd rather have deep conversations (not all the time but maybe once a week for a while) and since then we've barely spoken.

I've now left the ball in his court. I've expressed so many times recently that I'd like a phone call when we're not seeing each other for a few days and deep conversations to build that connection.
Date nights where we plan to do something other than watch TV. Yet, I've planned them in the past and now I've stopped, nothing.

Can 2 fundamentally different people really work long term?

I like home cooked meals, fruit and veg. He lives off rustlers burgers processed oven foods and take away.

He spends his spare time watching telly and playing on the ex box. I spend my spare time contemplating life, learning new things, gardening, reading, meditating and watching telly.

I don't follow social norms so to speak and he sort of does. I tend to think outside that box of conditioning and strive for a life that will fulfil me and guide my son to make good healthy choices. Thinking about that, we parent very differently too.

I don't have a 9-5 or the equivalent, I have a part time job, home educate my child and studying most evenings.

I just don't see how our lives fit together long term.

Thank you for reading

OP posts:
Kat6901 · 19/04/2021 16:36

Is there an age difference or some other possible imbalance?

WhatToDoHmmm · 19/04/2021 17:01

I guess I just wanted to know if it was a communication issue or an incompatibility one. Maybe the post wasn't written in the best way. For so long I felt like it was a communication issue but now I've been wondering other wise

OP posts:
WhatToDoHmmm · 19/04/2021 17:02

An age difference of 7 years, I didn't think that would be a massive issue though (I'm 28 and he's 35 this year)

OP posts:
Accentor · 19/04/2021 17:03

Just...why?

Talk about flogging a dead horse.

Kat6901 · 19/04/2021 17:04

I was thinking you might be older.

Kat6901 · 19/04/2021 17:05

Sounds like you resent him a lot so I would kindly end it with him and meet Simone who matches your needs for the deep conversations. Good luck op.

Kat6901 · 19/04/2021 17:05

*someone

Branleuse · 19/04/2021 17:08

Theres no real relationship there to work on. He sounds boring as hell to me. Some people are just like that. Its better to find someone closer to what you need from a relationship rather than attempt to mould this one. There will be someone out there thats content with what he offers, and there will be people out there that will be as excited as you are by the things you like.
Throw this one back in the sea

Accentor · 19/04/2021 17:10

Lol at meeting 'Simone who matches your needs'. She sounds great!

I0NA · 19/04/2021 17:15

Why has it taken you 3 years to work out that you have nothing in common ? This is a serious question - you need to fix your picker.

WhatToDoHmmm · 19/04/2021 17:55

'Why did it take me 3 years to realise we had nothing in common?'

I went through a lot shortly after we got together and that year of my life is pretty much a blur. I guess my relationship wasn't my main concern at the time.

As the relationship progressed I was struggling really bad with my mental health and had other massive life changes.

I wasn't really 'myself' for a long time, you could say I moulded myself around him because he was 'there' when I went through it all.

Overall though I'm probably insecure and have self esteem issues. I couldn't set boundaries and stick to them.

I suppose you could say I've only just come out of the other end of pure survival mode.

I didn't feel it was right to throw a decent guy away when I couldn't figure out if I was the issue or we just didn't work.

I think a lot of our problems were put on my mental health struggles rather than the actual issues in the relationship.

OP posts:
Monr0e · 19/04/2021 18:02

What were the boundary pushing issues?

To be honest it just sounds far too much like hard work. You don't click. He is not the man for you. Do you really want to have to force a relationship for the rest of your life?

Treacletoots · 19/04/2021 18:02

TBH I wouldn't call a man who plays x box and eats rustlers burgers a decent man. He's a man child at best, or my exH at worst.

Raise your standards, your boundaries and be a little bit more picky next time!

Cindy87 · 19/04/2021 18:04

It sounds a bit pressured. Conversations just happen; if you are having to schedule one in once a week it's just not going to work. You are obviously just really different people. Is there anything about the relationship that does work?

Shoxfordian · 19/04/2021 18:14

What do you love about him? It doesn’t sound as though you’re at all compatible

WhatToDoHmmm · 19/04/2021 18:16

Boundaries, simple ones like helping tidy before him and his son left mine. Letting both boys pick activities they'd like to do and let me know a little in advance if he was planning a day trip out, vice versa. Brushing teeth etc...

Then some others : always let me know what you want from the relationship, your values etc... Communicate when there's a problem on either end.

OP posts:
gannett · 19/04/2021 18:34

What do you mean when you say you love him? You haven't really outlined any of his good qualities. Someone can be an objectively decent person but acknowledging that isn't love, and it doesn't mean they're automatically suited for you.

Just seems like you're very different people who want very different things out of a relationship. It's not that deep.

gannett · 19/04/2021 18:36

And please don't think you can or should change him. He doesn't do conversation. That's who he is.

I've never met anyone who could have an intellectual conversation on demand. Do you think if he tried harder he'd suddenly transform into the man you actually want him to be, rather than the man he is?

chillied · 19/04/2021 18:41

It's incompatibility OP.

This relationship is dead in the water. I think you'll be happier freed and released from thinking that you have to work on this.

WhatToDoHmmm · 19/04/2021 18:47

Thank you everyone. All your thought have made me think a little more clearly.

OP posts:
FoggyDay58 · 19/04/2021 18:52

Reminds me a bit of my DH. Took me ages to realise that he really didn't know how to have a deep/intellectual conversation and my harping on about it made him feel really bad about himself. He made a real effort eg to book some lectures/film showings for us to go to together and read some (short) books that I had in my collection. When we talked about them I made sure I listened to his reactions and insights and it helped him feel more confident about expressing himself on 'the arts' (not his area at all). This was all a good few years ago and he still reads sporadically, and the intellectual quality of our conversations is definitely higher than it used to be. To an extent I also redirected my need for this sort of interaction by joining a book club of sorts (with three of his best friends, weirdly). I also accepted him for who he is, and what he can give me - which is a lot, in terms of making me laugh, being kind and supportive and all sorts of other qualities I've never found before in one person. Having also had relationships with people who only dealt in deep conversations (and with whom relationships were difficult for other - associated - reasons), I'm happy with my choice. Its up to you what you can live with - he is showing you who he is already.

astuz · 19/04/2021 19:01

I wouldn't even call this a relationship TBH, there's just nothing there. Does he even think he's in a relationship with you?

notagainmummy · 19/04/2021 19:13

If it's this much effort it's not worth it. Silk purse/sows ear and all that

Aprilx · 19/04/2021 19:40

The way you describe yourself and him, you clearly thing you are a far superior human being. I would find that a bit off putting about you, particularly with the demand for weekly deep conversations. 🙄

That aside, I don’t know what else you are looking for as it is blatantly obvious that you are not compatible.

MazekeenSmith · 19/04/2021 19:44

You've got nothing in common and you find him mind numbingly boring. Why would you think this relationship needs to be worked on??