Do you think this relationship could work?
I need some outside perspective because I feel completely stuck on a rollercoaster.
Right now, things are insanely good. My boyfriend is being absolutely perfect-making my lunch, cleaning up, and being super supportive while I study. When he's "on," he is generous, affectionate, and amazing.
But the lows are annoying. Two weeks ago, during a petty argument about groceries, he smashed a kitchen cabinet with his fist. We haven't spoken about it since. When he gets stressed with his business, he completely freezes me out, ignores me, or picks contrarian arguments.
I said one evening that really wasn't good what you did, are you going to replace it and he just made a joke and went upstairs.
He also keeps his life in rigid boxes. He has his family specifically his brohter/sister in law and kids that he actively hides me from—he saw them twice last week and didn't invite me. Yet, he'll show me videos of them on his phone, which feels bizarre since I've never met them. When I told him it hurt to be excluded, he did the exact same thing again the next Sunday.
During the lows he will cook and buy stuff still but just won't speak to me - he often just suddenly gets 'drained' he says and then we don't speak and he just disagrees with everything I say.
But we usually hug a lot have great laughs, constantly just messing around etc. He's an entrepreneur and his business is not where he wants it be. He wants to be really stable before we have kids/marriage.
I know if my friends or family knew he punched the cabinet, they’d be furious I stayed. I’m hiding the bad stuff to protect him because when he's good, he feels like a good man.
I just need to know if I'm wasting my time - I'm 30 years old and he is 32.
We do have really good times together majority of the time - these are like once every few months.
Posted Aug 12, 2026, 8:16 PM UTC