Girlfriend suggested a break

I’ve felt that my girlfriend’s been off for a while now. Saturday I had sent her a crafted package which I’d spent upwards of 15 hours on, as it involved me sewing her clothes, and other handmade gifts. While she reacted appreciative of the package, I somehow could tell that something was off? She reassured me everything was okay. We usually arrange to speak every night, but then suddenly Sunday she said that she would sleep early (7PM). I was a little confused, but told her this would be fine. Yesterday, Monday, I texted her in the morning and then double texted her in the afternoon about some gossip. She immediately responded to the gossip, so she had been up the whole time, but as soon as I tried to pivot it back to how she was and why she hadn’t been texting me, and that I miss her, her replies began to lag. I questioned this and she told me she needed the day to herself as she “felt weird”. I said that’s okay, text me when you can. Then at 1am Tuesday I get a text, just “hello”, and nothing else. I press this and she gets super upset with me, saying that she should be allowed to take space whenever she wants if she needs to mentally recalibrate. I said that’s fine, but give me a timeline else it’s unfair to keep me hanging. She said she would love to have a week of space to herself even but she doesn’t know how fair it would be to me. By this point I was emotionally drained so I told her, go ahead with the week, what I feel doesn’t matter. She said she’ll take that option then. She wasn’t sweet or affectionate in her “goodbye” when we were committing to literally a week apart, I had to ask where her “i love you” was. I deactivated my Instagram soon after because I was upset, and then I got a text asking why I did that and that I’m being petty. I told her that I thought she was on a social media/mental break and why is she checking mine then. She sent me “Be well” and stopped replying.

I feel exhausted lately because I’ve realized in all our arguments, in our whole relationship generally I do 99% of the emotional labor and upkeep. I essentially do everything to the point we joke about me being her “dad” and it’s still never enough. I’m exhausted. I really want this to work with her but breaks always feel like the deathknell of a relationship, and this just further affirms the pattern that we can have the most amazing relationship for a few weeks, be as close as ever, and then she’ll withdraw suddenly and get mad at me for being lost.

Posted Mar 10, 2026, 11:34 AM UTC

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