Hi, the problem I’m having is complicated and would take a fair amount of writing to explain. I’ll try the best I can to explain myself well. Anyway, I met my current boyfriend (my first boyfriend actually) on the Bioware Social Network; a gamer social networking site for fans of Bioware’s video games. I joined only with the intention of discussing various games with people and finding out info about Bioware’s latest video games, this was nearly 2 years ago (I was 17). About a month after joining the network, I had a pretty substantial friendslist (some people I’m actually good friends with now) and then I friended my current boyfriend. Needless to say, one thing led to another and we ended up chatting online nearly everyday, we had ( and have ) a lot in common, we hit it off right away. Well, nearly 2 months went by and our relationship changed to one of friendship to one of being in love. I wasn’t naive, nor was I unaware of the dangers the internet can pose, and due to other personal issues I didn’t trust myself (or rather my feelings) when I started falling for someone I’d never met in person…I didn’t think it was possible to feel that way given the circumstances, especially since I knew from the get go that he lives in Denmark. In spite of all that though, I knew when he told me how he felt I couldn’t ignore my own feelings, I should give us a chance, with eyes open, and see what happens.
It’s now nearly 2 years later, we’re still together, we still love each other, I trust him and he’s a wonderful person, we talk on the phone a lot, chat on Skype and the BSN…but we still haven’t been able to meet in person 😦 …sometimes I wonder what kind of relationship we really have. The logical reason why we haven’t met is that we’re both poor, have very little money and both of us are having trouble finding work. I think mainly because we both have personal issues, and that has gotten in the way of us moving forward in seeing each other. Either way, we do talk honestly about this, not as often as I like but we do sometimes. And quite frankly, given all the stuff I’ve experienced in my life and how extremely emotional I can be sometimes, it’s a miracle we’re still together and that he hasn’t judged me or left me. We both have acceptance of each other I guess, which I think is a reason we’re still together. Plus it’s helped that both of our families are supportive.
Anyway, I digress, what I’m asking for advice is this…I honestly don’t know how long I’ll be able to last in this relationship without seeing him, on the one hand I think “I’ve waited this long, what’s a few more months? Maybe more?”, and on the other hand I think “It’s been almost 2 years, and neither have us have found a way to see each other yet…doesn’t that indicate something? Maybe it’s not meant to be.”. In the midst of all that though, I know much of my confusion of what to do (leave or stay) stems from deep personal issues (which I am working on, which mostly have to do with being abandoned by my father, repeatedly throughout my life. I don’t want to leave my boyfriend because of my fear and pain of past events, I am determined not to give into that, if I leave want to know it’s the right thing to do) I have that make me afraid of the relationship, afraid to leave, afraid to stay, knowing that if I leave I’ll regret it, but also knowing that if I stay it’ll hurt all the more if we break up in the future and the pain itself of being so far from him on top of other pain I have. I love him and he loves me…but how long can we last like this? When we’re thousands of miles and an ocean apart.
I’m really between a rock and a hard place tucked into a corner here…leave, stay, leave, stay….I want to make the right choice for both of us, and I know inevitably no one can know what that is except myself and him…but I’m having trouble knowing what the right thing to do is, stay and painfully wait for a future that may never happen? Or leave, knowing that’ll hurt just as much and knowing that I have given into my fear and pain? Sometimes I know that staying is the right thing, that given everything else, the fact that we’re still together and still love each other must mean this is something special and worth waiting just a little while longer for…and I don’t want to hurt him, leaving will also mean hurting him, not just myself, I really don’t want to do that if I can avoid it. But, sometimes I doubt whether that is the right choice in the long run, or just what I want to be right choice…Then again, who knows what the future holds? So much could happen that’ll change things, but right now I just want to make a choice about what to do without a doubt and not have personal dilemma’s over it all the time…which I can’t seem to do, I can’t seem to make a choice and stick to it without occasionally doubting myself. What should I do? I love him, but…is that enough to stay? A wide variety of advice would be helpful…thank-you.