When silent hurts more, trying to find peace :(

Hey everyone, 28F here, I have always been really family-oriented. My parents have been together for over 30 years, and I’ve always admired that kind of strong, lasting relationship. I was in a long-term relationship for five years, hoping it would lead to marriage, but it didn’t. After that breakup, I took about a year to focus on myself and heal before dating again.

Then I met this guy online and we texted every day for two months before finally meeting in person. We clicked right away and went on a few dates. The more I got to know him, the quieter I became because I was falling for him and overthinking everything. We got intimate, and not long after, he started to grow distant. He said it was because of work stress, but I can’t help feeling like maybe my silence or shyness pushed him away.

We’ve known each other for about 7 months now, and I feel hurt. We had so much in common, and I really thought we wanted the same things. I just don’t understand how it’s so easy for people to give up nowadays… Dating today feels so shallow and fast-paced even though he seemed for a slow burn… I feel like I don’t belong in this generation sometimes.

Has anyone else felt like this? How do you stop overthinking and move on when someone just fades away after showing so much interest?

Now I’m really thinking about everything. He was always very polite — he didn’t say anything like, “I don’t think this is going to work.” I’m hurt that he didn’t say anything at all, but I can feel that he still follows me.

I’ve always preferred communication over fading, and I just don’t know what to do. To be honest, even now, if he came to me and said, ‘Listen, that was the issue’ I’d still be willing to talk and try to work things out. But at the same time, I feel bad by how he handled it. He obviously doesn’t know how deeply I process things, but still… it hurts.