Hi everyone.

I have been with my boyfriend for about 1.5 years, and I would say he is the love of my life.

For the most part, our relationship has been wonderful - we connect on so many levels, have lots of similar interests, have great sexual chemistry and overall really enjoy our time spent together.

However, for the remainder there have been lots of arguments, stress and tension from both sides. He is a very emotionally closed-off person, whereas I am the complete opposite. He has a hard time processing and talking about how he feels.

We have probably broken up 2 times before, but always ended up back together.

However, very recently he has been very distant from me. He would not respond to my communications or would avoid meeting with me. I kept telling him it was hurting me and he agreed he would stop but he never did. In the last week I was super stressed over the death of a family member and he just wasn't there for me.

I decided to meet him to talk and work out what the hell had happened between us. He told me that he felt like he had drifted from me and that it felt right to break up - even though he still finds me attractive, thinks I'm a great person and cares about me. This broke my heart. Furthermore, he said for the past week he has been talking to some girl at work and there is some chemistry there - so for the past week he had basically been ignoring me and probably talking to her, which would've made him feel more 'happy' speaking to her because the thrill of a new person etc. would've been nice compared to how stressed he felt with me. I told him that we had been together for so long and we both know we are special to each other, and he should want to try and fix things but he said it doesn't feel right.

I have done so, so much for him, he probably wouldn't even have a job if it wasn't for me. I don't want to waste my time on someone who doesn't want me, but the thing is that he doesn't know. I just think speaking to this girl especially has worsened his feelings because a 'relationship' with her probably seems more appealing as it is 'new' and 'stress-free', and I feel like he is running away from his issues by breaking up with me because in order to maintain a relationship with me he needs to be open and change himself. I am just worried to death that he is going to drift from me further and like this other girl, even if me and him are 'meant to be'. I want to convince him to at least go on a break with me so he can think about our relationship more objectively but I don't think he will do it.

Any advice?