Thursday, 26 July 2012

  • He Won't Move In with Me


    My boyfriend and I have been together for a little over a year, though we were very good friends for three or four prior to dating. It was hard for me to separate that friendship from the relationship and it felt as if we had been dating that whole time, despite the fact that there were new aspects and elements to our relationship and personalities that we hadn't experienced before dating.

    In the year we've been together a lot has happened between us. Unplanned pregnancy, miscarriage, and two break ups that lasted for roughly three months combined. I did the breaking up both times and the last time we were broken up for two months. We'd been fighting like crazy and I felt like me and my daughter weren't a priority for him.

    We had very little contact with each other during those two months and finally he came to my house and made a bunch of promises to me that thus far he's kept. Our relationship has never been better...except for the fact that he won't move in with me.

    He says he isn't ready and doesn't want to. Pretty clear message. He feels he doesn't make enough money to support himself and although he's 25 years old he is very old fashioned in that he feels the man should support the woman and not the other way around. He also says he is still working on his degree and has to focus on that, though he is getting quite a bit of financial aid.

    Since the topic came up, and since his staunch refusal to live together, I can feel myself pulling away from him emotionally. When we are laying in bed and I close my eyes it feels like we are miles and miles apart from each other, though we are physically close. I have an intense need to create a family, and I don't necessarily mean marriage or babies.

    I just want to share my every day life with him, the joy my daughter brings me (they get along well), sleep in the same bed with him every night, and all that junk.

    I love him dearly, and another break up is not what I want at all, but I am not quite sure how to handle this. I feel very rejected and I feel like I'm going to spend my whole life waiting for him to grow up and get on my level.  I don't want to force him to do something, but I do want my needs to be met.

    Where should I go with this relationship?

Comments (40)

  • T3hZ10n@xanga

    "I don't want to force him to do something, but I do want my needs to be met."

    From what you've said, your needs are met.

    http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/need

    "When we are laying in bed and I close my eyes it feels like we are miles and miles apart from each other"

    That sounds like a medical condition if you ask me.

    When I'm laying in bed and I close my eyes, the person I want to be with more than anything IS miles and miles away.

    "I feel very rejected and I feel like I'm going to spend my whole life waiting for him to grow up and get on my level."

    How rejected do you think he would feel if he knew you felt he should "grow up"... not to mention that you feel as though he's not on 'your level'.

    Women are so blind to their own egotism.

  • TheNotoriousGOD@xanga

    oh my god.  say it after me:  my daughter and i.  my daughter and i.  my daughter and i.  it's not "me and my daughter".  i get so flaccid over that shit.

    anyway.  you've broken up twice with this guy.  you fight.  he's young and doesn't have his shit together (and i don't get the impression you do, either).  doctor says: you guys don't have a future together.  you're only still together because you've been too emotionally weak to break it off for good. 

    as swizz beatz would say:  on to the next one.  (try being single for some time first, though.)

  • LadyGwenivere@xanga

    where should you go? Counseling.
    Did you stop and think that maybe the loss of the baby is whats effecting him?
    Go get some relationship counseling (go to a counselor that does sessions with you together and separately). You might find out you are not a good fit together.. and that you are just trying to make it work because you want a family so badly.

    I think it could work out, but you need to lay off trying to get him to move in with you. Everyone grieves differently and he might just need some space.
    But seriously, go to counseling.

  • TheNotoriousGOD@xanga

    edit// while i don't take back what i said, i like @LadyGwenivere@xanga 's answer better.  i'm usually not wrong but ultimately, a counselor will give you more appropriate advice than anyone on the interwebz can. 

    if you're going to complain that it's expensive, i hope you realize that raising a kid is pretty fing expensive...

  • runaroundd@xanga

    @TheNotoriousGOD@xanga - actually, in this case, it's my daughter and me.

  • T3hZ10n@xanga

    @TheNotoriousGOD@xanga - Good point. Raising a child from birth to the age of 18 on average costs around $234,900 (2011 estimate).

  • Trueinnerbeauty@lovelyish

    @T3hZ10n@xanga - another thing she isn't considering is maybe he is doing it for the daughters sake. If they have broken up and argued so much why would he move in and then break the little girls heart if they break up again and he has to move out? That is more unhealthy than anything, sounds like he is being kinda grown up in that situation 

  • Jenny_Wren@xanga

    "I have an intense need to create a family, and I don't necessarily mean marriage or babies."


    I loved this line. I remember feeling that exact same way before I got married..even while I was still engaged.
    You want emotional, spiritual, intimacy. To not be afraid to be living totally vulnerable everyday with someone. You want a refuge. A home.
    I get you. 
  • P0RCELA1N_D0LL@xanga

    that's one reason why I prefer men, who have already proven themselves and I don't have to wait, change or expect him to be anything else, because he already is almost everything that I want. I wouldn't be attracted to someone, who isn't independent to begin with. maybe because I grew up in a single parent family with just my mom and I, so I've been independent and I don't expect a man to support me and though I appreciate if he wants to support me, I'd prefer if each of us are independent. I'd be glad if a guy told me that he isn't ready and expresses his concern for his financial well being rather than being a leech. or if a guy casually tells me to not worry about it and he'll take it day by day and do what he can as long as we're living together, then we get evicted that we can't pay the rent and gets so stressed that he's distracted from his studies and gets horrible grades and loses his financial aid support to continue school, so he gets depressed because he feels insufficient, and ignores me even more. that's just one possible scenario. I'd rather have a guy with a plan and goals to reach them than the "you only live once" attitude where it seems cool, but not really reliable. you can still enjoy and love each other even if you don't move in together. it probably won't be that enjoyable if he isn't ready to move in, but is guilt tripped into moving in and having to worry about financial things. you have different priorities; his is his financial situation and yours is wanting a family lifestyle. maybe he feels rejected as well since you broke up with him twice. he probably doesn't feel emotionally stable enough with you, so he fears that you'll give him a worse rejection when you guys fight again and you move out and leave him a third time if you moved together. your ground isn't stable enough financially or emotionally to consider moving in together. I think he realizes this and I'd be relieved if a guy that I'm dating sees this and makes it clear that he doesn't think it is a good idea or he's not ready.

  • wing_stock@xanga

    Am I the only one who's weirded out by the choice of picture for this post..?? 

    Anyway it looks like you two are in a mess. Go to couple counseling since you said you two have a daughter together (?)

  • T3hZ10n@xanga

    @P0RCELA1N_D0LL@xanga - 

    "I wouldn't be attracted to someone, who isn't independent to begin with."

    Beautiful choice of words. False on so many counts... but true at the core.

  • TheNotoriousGOD@xanga

    @T3hZ10n@xanga - so like...6 months of income.  yeah, i can deal with that. 

  • P0RCELA1N_D0LL@xanga
  • notinwonderlandanymore@xanga

    Do you really want to be with him? It doesn't sound like you do. You have a child (that isn't his), you fight a lot and you're obviously at two different places in your life. You don't mention your age, but I assume as he's 25 you're probably around the same age as he is. Why be with someone you fight with and who doesn't want what you do? And you two fighting/getting back together is bound to impact your child, and she should be your priority here.  It's not fair on her to be around a fighting couple, regardless of well she "gets on with him".


    You either need to break things off for good, and not fall for his attempts to try and get you back, or you stick with him, go to counselling to get over the loss of your unborn child, and stop breaking up every time things get hard. Good luck!
  • T3hZ10n@xanga

    @P0RCELA1N_D0LL@xanga - Temporally speaking, I'm sure you'd easily find yourself attracted to someone who isn't, by your definition, "independent" (e.g. someone who is incredibly hot, caring, etc.), but would later be turned off upon finding out that they are not independent by your highly specific but ambiguously defined usage of the word.

    That is just one example. Another is the fact that the evidence you require to ensure the person is "independent" is, in-fact, hard evidence to the contrary. Owning property = paying taxes... paying taxes = requiring an income... requiring an income = requiring a job... requiring a job = depending on others to pay you, etc.

    Whether you're living at home or in mansion in Beverly Hills, in one form or another, whether its your biological parents, the government, your boss at work, your employees, or your customer base, you have a parental figure you rely on for your continued "independence". The irony is that generally speaking, the more successful a person is, the more authorities it seems they have to answer to.

    The truth behind what you said though, is that we are all independent to begin with, and it is therefore impossible to be attracted to someone who is not independent.

    "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - Declaration of Independence

    Which of course says that we are all created equal. (i.e. equal from birth).

    Though it's nice not being stressed out due to financial concerns, finances do not have sole dictatorship over human biology and/or emotional, sexual, or any other form of attraction or arousal.

    Rather, from what you said, if you find a person who is not "independent" unattractive, then finances DO have sole dictatorship over human biology, and they certainly should not... because I don't need to tell you what it means if a relationship requires a dollar amount (whether the time is taken to calculate it or not).

  • Katherine_the_third@xanga

    I think it's very obvious why he won't move in with you. Your relationship is way too unsteady. You need to have a solid relationship BEFORE you move in. Living together does not bring you closer, other than physically. If you can manage not to break up with him for another year or two, then you can bring up moving in again. 

  • perfectformality@xanga

    I think you should respect his decisions and let it the whole situation be. Everything will work out like how it should. In the meantime, you should focus on yourself and daughter. 

  • Erika_Steele@xanga

    How would you feel if the situation was reversed?  You wouldn't want him pressuring you to do something that you do not want.  What's really going to change if you move in with him?  Moving in together is not going to guarantee that your relationship will last or that it will create a family between you, your daughter, and him.  You can't force him to be what you need him to be.  Again, how would you feel if the situation was reversed and he wanted you to be or do something for which you are not ready.

  • P0RCELA1N_D0LL@xanga

    @T3hZ10n@xanga - basically, I don't want a scrub and someone, who will pay his share and is responsible enough to earn his own money and take care of himself. everyone relies on others in some way, such as an employer to hire them, but I was saying that I want someone, who is ambitious, and doesn't say, oh well, I'm equal no matter what because we're all born equal, so why bother improving myself! I amend my previous statement to someone, who is "highly ambitious" and continuously strives for self improvement for himself

  • MommaFish89@xanga

    Don't completely push him out of your life simply because you don't feel that you are getting what you want right now. These are extremely valid reasons, I believe, for him to not move in with you now. If he's so far kept the promises that he has made then he obviously does care and wants to be with you. If you plan to spend the rest of your life with him or any extended amount of time you have to understand that things won't always go your way or at the pace you'd wish it to. Give him a chance. If after all of the topics he mentioned have been taken care of, the college, the good paying job, etc. and he still doesn't want to move in, then I'd be concerned. As of right now though I think you're being a little selfish and need to support him in his decision, just as you'd want him to support you in yours, right? I don't mean this to be rude by any means, so please don't feel that I do.

  • Christy412@xanga

    It is time to move on. There are many fishes in the sea. Find another who loves and respects your daughter, as well.

    Any delay is one less day when you will be with the guy you were meant to be..

    PS Use birth control. Don't bring an innocent baby into a bad relationship. Good luck!

  • soupermodel@xanga

    @runaroundd@xanga - actually it's not. felt is a linking verb, therefore what comes after it is a predicate nominative, not an object. so simplified it would be "I felt I" or with her words "I felt like my daughter and I..." or as a simple trick to check it, you wouldn't say "I felt like me wasn't a priority for him" you would say "I felt like I..." 

  • Pertaining2me@xanga

    I don't think moving on together will make things better, if anything it will cause more problems, especially if he doesn't want to.

    You should really listen to what he wants, not what YOU want. He says he is not ready, do not push the topic any further. Do you want to move in and then deal with the heartbreak and pain of moving out???? Think about this carefully. Moving in is a huge step...almost like being married. He wants to have a stable career to support you and your daughter. Reevaluate your relationship and find out what you want from it.

    Good Luck!!

  • Mockdonimus_Tuntsweet@xanga

    You just need to date a black man....or like, cheat with one on the side.
    Not me, I'm not sayin no shit like that...I belong to no women and all women at once, but that's kind of a deep discussion for another time.  You just need black love.  White love too damn crazy and usually ends in a crime-spree if you see it through to completion.

    Mock

  • pnrj@xanga

    Think of it this way: He understands what moving in with you really means. He's afraid of that commitment because he grasps its magnitude.

    A lot of other men would just move in with you, so they could keep on having sex and act like things are going well---and then leave when they realized the commitment they had just taken on. He doesn't want to do that; he wants to go slower now, so that he isn't overwhelmed later.

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