I’ve developed a crush on a colleague who is in a relationship , whereas I am single . We are friends , but relatively close , we text quite a lot and get lunch every day. We confide in very personal issues , he knows nearly every thing about me and vice versa.
I’ve noticed I am now emotionally reliant on him and he does confide in me too, we help each other out a lot work wise and somewhat emotionally . No romance has come from his end , nor mine . He does not find me attractive .
However, my feelings have grown stronger and it has made me realise how lonely I am and that I want a relationship myself.
I think I need to back up from this friendship due to my feelings growing . However we are part of a group, if there was no group I think I would just back away from him .I don’t want anyone to know my inappropriate feelings / crush .
How should I handle this , should I abruptly end the friendship , slowly back away or just carry on and hope things improve when I sort my life out ? Part of me thinks the crush part could burn out and I will likely end up meeting someone anyway , but I am not sure . My mental health is quite poor at the moment , I do a stressful job so collegue relationships are important .