20F 20M, should we break up?
My boyfriend (20M) and I (20F) have been together for a year and a half, but recently I have been feeling empty or indecisive. I love him very much, but I feel disrespected at times, especially when it is about my feelings. I try to open up to him but I am met with mockery or sometimes he listens but I see no consistency in that as he tends to forget that I have felt that way a few days after we talk.
I personally hate silent treatment, maybe a few minutes of not talking would be okay just so we can regain our composure, but I do not appreciate verbal insults (whore, slut, etc.,) during that period of time as it puts me in a mood where it is hard to shift back to being positive again. I would try to alleviate the situation and tell him to stop it when we’re fighting but he silences me and tells me to shut up, and sometimes he does it when we’re inside the class too because he knows I don’t want to be embarrassed, which again I have discussed with him but he seems to always forget.
He has told me I talk too much but that’s all I can do, release my frustrations and pleas and feelings through talking, I don’t want to hurt him, I never did. I have lost my “spark” I used to be a very smart individual, but now I cannot even get passing marks in quizzes or answer questions in recitation properly as he claims I show off and make him feel small which I have never tried to make him feel or think, I do not see academics as a competition in which I’m going against him.
I don’t have many friends either, so it really weighs me down whenever we fight because I see him both as a friend and a partner. The thing is, I don’t even want to leave, but everytime I bring up these concerns all he tells me is that “there’s still time to leave” like there’s no hope of him changing his ways.
We still manage to have good times and laughs and hang out and get through things, he apologizes for the things he says but sometimes just an apology isn’t enough, I want him to apologize and try not to make me cry or hurt me with his words or anything again.
I have had thoughts of marrying him as we are becoming adults and obviously I would like to start a family of our own, but I am concerned with the way he is being right now, will he always be this way? Is there no hope for changing? Is this it? Please help.
Posted Jan 31, 2026, 1:25 PM UTC