My wife (23F)says she feels like she carries 90% of our relationship. How do I(19F) fix this?

My wife (23F)and I (19F) have been married for almost a year. She recently told me to stop making myself the victim in every situation, and I think she’s right. For some background I had a pretty rough childhood and was a victim from a lot of the things I went through. I ended up leaving home when I was 17 and lived with my ex which wasn’t the best decision, but I did it for survival to leave my parents. Then when we eventually broke up, I was extremely broke with a dog to take care of by myself two jobs and in a very shitty apartment in a not great neighborhood. And I ended up meeting my now wife about a year after. She quickly started to help financially not in sending me money type of way, but when she would come visit, she would buy me extra groceries doorDash me food sometimes pay for me to go to the movie with my friends etc. She has a very stable job due to her being military. I never asked for help, but she knew I was struggling and wanted to help. We ended up getting married pretty quickly because we were very in love and she wanted me to go with her to another country. So we get married and only a very small handful people knew not even my parents. I worked for my parents who have a small business and I was a dance instructor. I grew up in a very small conservative town and both of the jobs that I worked for had religious affiliations. I got fired from both of my jobs within the same week because someone told them that I married a woman and having no idea how to pay or get a job quickly enough to pay rent my wife decided that she wants me to come live with her way earlier than we had planned and I agreed. Now back to today I feel like I have been nothing but a burden to my wife and am constantly making her life harder. I still haven’t finished my GED we even started college and I feel so behind in life. I am constantly fucking up everything as small as not remembering the correct parking lot to pick her up from work to as big as forgetting to get our dogs shots on time and him having to go on a different plane to a different country and have to pay thousands extra out-of-pocket. These types of things happen on a daily basis like me forgetting to put clean laundry in the dryer and have to wash them again. I constantly feel like my brain isn’t a jumble like I’m either doing a million things at once or I feel so down and stuck it’s hard for me to do the simplest things that I’ve been putting off for months. I am constantly forgetting everything and messing up important things. Because I’m like this, my wife feels that she cannot trust me to do anything on my own. She constantly has to doublecheck I do things correct or that I didn’t forget. She said our relationship feels like she gives 90% and I give 10%. And that the load feels very heavy for her and being our only provider as well. She says that she doesn’t like talking to me about it because every time she tries to bring it up I end up crying profusely, apologizing, but never fixing the situation. How can I fix this? How can I stop fucking up everything? How can I stop making myself the victim? And yes, before you ask, I’ve done plenty of therapy before and I am currently on antidepressant and I’m trying to get back into therapy, but my provider cannot book me out until October. I love my wife dearly I need to fix this for her and my sake. I’m not looking for validation or to be told my wife is wrong. I think she’s exhausted, and I want to become someone she can trust to share the load with. If you’ve been in my position or my wife’s what actually helped? Thanks.

TL;DR: My wife says she feels like she carries 90% of our relationship because I constantly forget important things, get overwhelmed, and apologize without making lasting changes. I love her and don’t want to keep letting her down. How do I become a more reliable partner and actually break this cycle?

\*EDIT\* I was already 18 when we met I was born in 2006. She was born in 2003 we barely have a three year age gap I am turning 20 in a couple months

Posted Aug 3, 2026, 10:54 AM UTC

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