Conflicted about breaking up with my (18F) insecure, unmotivated high school boyfriend (18M)
I’ve (18F) been with my boyfriend (18M) for a little over 2 years. We started dating in high school and we are “school year” apart so he is a senior in high school while I am now a freshman in college. He has been pretty insecure since we started dating, and he was freshly out of a (relatively) serious relationship when we first got together. We got together really fast, before I was even sure I had feelings for him in the first place. He was my first EVERYTHING, so I didn’t know what to expect from a relationship and I didn’t really set any boundaries. We called (and still do) alllll the time. Like I mean all the time. Whenever I’m at home, sleeping, and sometimes even when I’m outside. At first it really bothered me, and whenever I told him I didn’t want to call, he would act really sad and make me feel bad so I just ended up putting up with it and stayed on the phone all the time. I even broke up with him once very early on in our relationship. But I felt really bad and got back together with him. Don’t get me wrong, I do like him. I haven’t been dating him purely out of pity, but recently I’ve been having thoughts of breaking up with him. It’s not even that I want to “flirt around” and date other guys, but sometimes I really miss being single and not having to put up with him. Like recently, I wanted to work out at the gym in my apartment for a little bit, and I asked him if I could hang up so I could listen to music in my headphones while I worked out. And he got so upset about it and said “I thought you liked talking to me, though.” I personally don’t like being on the phone in public, especially in indoor spaces where other people are likely to be as well. Also, DAILY he makes some comment about me being with “other boys” or talking to “other boys” whenever I try to do something completely normal. Like when I asked if I could hang up for the gym, he accused me of leaving to talk with “my other boyfriend.” I’ve done nothing to warrant any suspicion, and I would never cheat on him. We’ve talked about it before, and he said it was because his previous exes have cheated on him so he has trust issues, but we’ve been in a relationship for over 2 years and I’ve never done anything remotely close to cheating. I don’t even have straight guy friends. I do, however, have this one gay guy friend (who I am 100% is gay and has even told me he is gay) that my boyfriend gets really jealous about. Whenever I mention him, my bf calls him “my other boyfriend.” And he tries passing it off as a joke, but I know he’s at least a little upset, and it’s so frequent and I hate it. Another thing, I’ve also recently been talking about going to a concert with my friends, and he got upset that I wanted to go without him. But he HATES the artist’s music, and when I suggested we go together (which would be impossible given his schedule and the fact he lives over an hour away), he said “I would rather go to a [other artist he hates] concert than that.” So I’m just not going to the concert which really bummed me out. And another thing, I used to do theater, and I played this one role that had no romance scenes, but she had like one flirty line with another character, and did a little (<5 sec) dance with that character that was completely innocent. And he genuinely did not even come to my show because he didn’t want to “see me flirt with another guy.”
He’s also just kind of unambitious. He has no job, no car, no dreams for the future other than being with me. Whenever I talk about wanting to work hard in school so I can be successful he calls me a “government drone.” He doesn’t do anything but play video games. I’ve given him the benefit of the doubt since his family is poor, so there’s not much he can do about that. But whenever he has problems, he becomes so defeatist and pessimistic, like he’d rather be sad forever than try to solve his problems. And to him, nothing is ever his fault. Whenever something goes wrong, it’s always someone else’s fault, and he’s “always right” (his own words).
I guess I just feel really suffocated, and it is partly my own fault for not setting up boundaries from the very beginning. I didn’t know what was considered “normal” in a relationship, and now that I have boundaries and issues I want to bring up, it feels too late because it has been considered “normal” in our relationship for years. I like my boyfriend a lot. He makes me laugh, and I hate to see him sad. I do love him a lot. We have similar humor, political views, he’s a great person, incredibly loyal, and he really does love me more than anything. I’m crying as I write this LOL, but idk if the pros really outweigh the cons. I just sometimes wonder if I could do better, or if I would just be better off single. OK RANT OVER, and I’d really like some advice?
Posted Oct 7, 2025, 2:42 AM UTC