My (M28) partner (F32) says she's tired of being the one who always initiates?

My partner and I have been together for over 7 years now. I will be honest, for a big part of our relationship she was the one to make most decisions, not because I was incapable but she usually took over most things, accepted help but would go with her own choice in the end. She came to realize that she does this as she likes things done how she wants it. That worked out fine for a long time, fast forward to now. We've lived together for about 2-3 years and we have had lots of issues around house work. To clarify I live with her. This has made things extremely difficult as a lot of the time she's ok leaving a cup here or a plate there and will always give me a hard time about the same thing. Waking up early on the weekends? If I get up before her she will stay in bed until she feels the need to get up. If she gets up before me, she will make it known that I NEED to get up and out of bed.

Where am I going with this? Well yesterday we had an issue where we slept super late, 5am to be exact, I hadn't got great sleep the night before so I was super exhausted. She wakes me up at like 11 and tells me to get up because we need to do shopping...all while she's still in bed scrolling on her phone. I'm effing knackered and trying to find the strength to just function and then that's where it happened. She snapped, got up and said "since I have to initiate everything around here, cleaning, grocery shopping, gym" although some of that is true, it hasn't been true for a very long time.

Granted when it comes to working out she usually initiates, but I've taken a big part when it's come to doing my part, she hasn't touched the rubbish in a long time, hasn't touched the laundry because I've taken care of that. I've done groceries a plethora of times and have offered to do it on my own so she can relax. The only time she's done groceries alone is when she's angry at me. I'm trying to do all these little things to help her relax and have some time to herself but she's the complete opposite with me. Whenever I wake up before her, I let her chill while I'm up and maybe make us some tea or breakfast but there's times where she wakes me up so I can turn her toothbrush on. I wish I was joking.

Now I'm in a position where I can't speak logically because emotions are involved so I need to sit and listen to her stirring the pot and speak of my inability to stick to a gym routine while she herself hasn't been able to commit but she feels very comfortable mentioning my struggle only. What's the go from here because I do want to work through this but she's currently not speaking to me and I don't want to cross any boundaries.

Posted Jul 13, 2026, 10:33 AM UTC

13
Loading comments…