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My boyfriend and I have been dating for over a year. When I first met him he was much more available. As time progressed his mother's serious health issues have taken over. He still lives at home and cares for his mother who is mentally unstable and very selfish and needy. He has an older sister who moved out before their mother's health issues got serious. She is now married and starting a life with her husband in a new city and is not involved in caring for their mother.
Whenever I try to tell him that he deserves that life too, he feels to guilty to leave his dad to deal with his mom.
The future conversation has come up several times with my boyfriend and I and he has said that he will never leave his parents. Eventually his mom will pass but he feels too guilty to leave his father. I always remind him that people have children to be able to go have their own lives and that it is not fair to let his parents consume his whole life. He has mentioned wanting to live with his father in the future and this is not something that I am open to. I have told him this and said that if we want different things in life, it's better to realize that sooner than later, then he finally agrees that yes one day he wants to live with me. I know he really does but I also know when the time comes he will never want to leave his father.
He also cared for his elderly Aunt regularly. Between his mom and his aunt, living at home and being treated like a child, having his whole schedule controlled by someone else, I just don't feel like there is any room for me.
I have been unhappy in the relationship and tried to talk to him about it, but it just overwhelms him. I try to tell him my expectations and instead of listening he gets mad at me and says that it's never enough for me. He is so consumed with other demands that he has no space left to think about me. I just want him to understand how I feel and put in more effort to make me feel loved in the time we do have together, but he just doesn't get it.
It's been increasingly challenging for me to understand what he is going through. I don't want to be insensitive but he won't make a change and I am not happy. I love him so much but his friends are also awful so it is hard for me to want to hang out with them. I don't mind once in a while but I tried to set up a date night and a separate guys night and this upsets him saying that I won't even try to like his friends and what did they ever do to me? In general he is pretty bad at time management and I know me not enjoying accompanying him on guy's nights makes it harder for him to fit in friends and me in free time but I just feel like if he loved me he would crave time alone with me and make more of an effort to somewhere find time in his busy schedule.
You know typing this out and thinking about it all signs point to the obvious- breakup. But as Im sure many of you can understand, I love this person. I want to be with him but even if I am not with him, it hurts me to know that he cannot grow up and have his own life. Between his controlling needy family and his immature friends who are nothing but a bad influence I always feel like I come in last priority. Of course he doesn't just ditch me for his friends all the time, not at all. But when he sees his friends it's like so much excitement and happiness it brings to him and when he sees me, I now he loves me but he is not expressive about it. It leaves me feeling like Im just stuck out alone in the cold and the worst part is he doesn't understand how I could feel this way about any of this. I try to explain it to him and it just always ends up in a fight. I just want it to be easy. I want him to get me. 
To make matters more difficult his grandfather just passed away. This is the first close death that he has experienced and is hitting him hard. I'm trying so hard to be understanding and sensitive to him but I just feel like I try so hard to keep the relationship good and be there for him and he is too consumed to make an effort for me and understanding how I feel and caring about my needs.

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Dear Needing,, we see a post like this several times a year,, and yep. by your own admission it points to breakup. You are not happy, with him, his family or his friends. time to move on before you invest even more here.. or you will find yourself stuck with his elder care, living with his parents,, you get the picture,. Find someone or something that makes you HAPPY.. this is not working for you. I am sorry
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needingadvice, welcome to life. If your parents are still part of your life, you eventually will feel the need to go help them. Then and only then will you understand what your boyfriend had to go through. I know for myself, I never knew how difficult caregiving was until I was thrown in the trenches.

Time for you and the boyfriend to go off in separate directions. Boyfriend has enough on his plate right now to give you the time and attention that you want. Even if you find someone new, there will be speed-bumps in that relationship. That is just how life is.
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Needing, just move on.

He can't give you what you want in a relationship right now. Go date others.
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Needing, I'm sorry you're dealing with this, but it sounds as if you've already answered your own question.
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Needing, Same as I say... all of the above.
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I agree with all of the above. Sorry for your situation.
May God help you through.
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One thing I noticed you said and I'm not trying to sound mean or anything like that but you said: "he cannot grow up and have his own life."

Taking care of a parent is very grown up and it is very stressful. As you know it makes have a relationship hard, sometimes very hard and its very stressfull for both you and him. He's going to need a break and get away from caregiving otherwise he will get burned out and that will only make things worse for you and him. 

I'm not so sure a relationship can even exist without having some time to yourselves for dating. He has a tremendous amount on his plate and it's clear that you have strong feelings for him, but you two are in two different paths. I'm sorry. 

I agree with freqflyer. Please, pleas, please re-read that post.
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Make a Pro and Con list. Pro, the things he does "for you". Con the things he doesn't do for you. (Like not give you the attention you need.) If Con is more than Pro then you have to walk away. I am only being blunt here because I have been there. This person has no time for what you need. You aren't big on his friends. Thats a biggie. After a year don't look at this as Romantic. " I'll stick by him because I love him". He has told you he needs to take care of his family. You will always be second. Thats not a relationship. Not that he can't be there for family but your feelings should mean something. I think if you back off for a while you will realize there was really no long term here. Dating is one way you find out what you want in a partner and what you need from that partner. Iff your needs are not being met, he is the wrong partner. Time to move on.
I think deep down you know this relationship is not what you need. You can love someone but doesn't mean he is "the one".
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You are not being fair to him. He told you what his responsibilities are. He's shown you what his life consists of. And you step in and try to change it. He's tried to include you in all aspects of his world.

You don't like his " immature & awful" friends.

You don't like his "selfish, demanding, needy and controlling" mom.

You don't approve of him helping his "sick elderly" aunt.

And you don't think he should make a home with his dad once he becomes a widower.

Then you pressure him into saying what you want to hear, by suggesting you think it's time to break up.

Hmm, I don't think you understand what sharing someone's life really means. And that's what a relationship is. Sharing lives. He's been open and honest with you. But his life is not the life you want. And that's perfectly fine. You leave. You don't stay and try to make him change everthing, that obviously, means so much to him. Nope, that's not how it works. Be kind and walk away.
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Roger and Pepsee- very good posts, thank you.
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Needing, it sounds by your post as if you are very emotionally in love with your boyfriend, yet I want to point something out. When you marry someone, you vow things like "for better or worse, till death do us part." But are you and your boyfriend even engaged? I say this from the point of view of 28 years of marriage and now dealing with my elderly mother's and my father-in-law's dementia. When you marry someone, you accept their great strengths and their great weaknesses. My mother's mental and health breakdown become my wife's responsibility, and her father's mental/physical breakdown become mine. But if you are only dating, despite the emotional attachment, you are not ethically bound to allow your boyfriend's elderly parent problems to become yours. Only you can make that decision, but consider your own physical and mental well being. It sounds like you are accepting responsibilities that may well belong to a wife, but you are not his wife. If you want to marry him, by all means to do so realizing fully the situation you will inherit and accept as your own. If you do not want those problems, and right now you are not bound to accept them as yours, then you should consider parting ways.
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I am going to take a different approach here.

needingadvice - I think you ought to stay and tough it out. He is worth it.

Let's see. Here are the problems that you have.

You don't like his mom.
You don't like his dad.
You don't like his aunt.
You don't like him taking care of any of the above.
You don't like his life being consumed and controled by the above.
You don't like his plan to move in with his father after his mom passes.
You don't like his friends.
You don't like him showing so much excitement and happiness with his friends.
You don't like that he doesn't express his feelings for you.
You don't like that he doesn't grow up and have his own life
You don't like that he doesn't make time for you or put you first.
You don't like that there is no room for you in his life.

But you love him. What is it exactly that you love? No matter. We/You can change all of the above by plucking him right out of his world and plopping him somewhere in your universe where his mom, dad, aunt, sister, and friends don't exist.

I think you should hold your breath, threaten to break up, have more fights until he realizes the error of his ways and divorces everyone near and dear to him, then you can have him all to yourself. Happiness finally!

Sorry for being sarcastic, but sometimes it brings the point home more clearly.
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I'm gonna go out on a limb and say....I think when a man is like this with a woman, he is staying in the relationship mainly because he can get sex on a regular basis without the work of having to go out and find it.

No, I don't think that's all that's going on with him, and I'm not even saying that makes him a bad person. And it might not be how things started out when you two met, but I think it's where things have ended up. With all the pressure on him right now - yeah, to be totally blunt, I suspect he finds it easier to hang onto someone who fills his sexual needs, because sex is one of our most basic, fundamental drives, and it's one less thing he has to worry about.

I'm not even saying this is just a "guy thing" - some women do this too - but it's a thing that guys are more likely to do, just because they've been more socially free to do it, for a longer period of human history.  (This is going to balance out between the genders before too long.) I know guys who've gone so far as to buy rings for their girlfriends, with no intent of ever marrying them, just to keep them quiet and maintain their easy access to sex.  Heck, I know guys who have MARRIED for access to sex....and usually regretted it and ended up divorced. 

And frankly, I don't think being in a relationship for the sex is a bad thing, either, if that's what BOTH parties want out of it.

It's not what you want out of a relationship.

Maybe you think I'm wrong. But here's what I see.

When you first met, he was totally into you. (All new sexual relationships are like this.)

Now you feel like there's no room for you. (Trust your feelings.) Talking about the relationship overwhelms him. (Because he doesn't want to deal with it.) He has no space left to think about you. (This is not how true partnerships work.)

He doesn't really want to be alone with you; he wants to fit you in with his "friend time." (He gets his companionship from them, and sex at the end of an enjoyable evening.) He is excited and happy to be with his friends but he's not expressive with you. (See previous.)

Under the threat of losing what he has now, he's said he wants to live with you someday, but he's also said many times that he will never leave his father. (He's under pressure so he's throwing you a bone to keep you from walking away.)

He is "too consumed to make an effort for (you) and understanding how (you) feel and caring about (your) needs." (He is not in a serious relationship with you.)

Maybe others will disagree with me, and maybe you think I'm wrong. But I have a suspicion I'm right. 

Please don't hate me. I'm trying to help you see that it's definitely time to move on and look for the relationship you want, because this isn't it.  When you're full of the wrong thing, you have to let it go so you can make room for the right thing.
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Your young man has some serious issues and he needs to see a counselor for his own sake. It’s beyond you talking to him, he’s told you how he feels and you’re just hoping things work out. He has to want to change and he doesn’t.

Move on.
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Dorianne—I didn’t think of that. The refusal to leave the nest seems unhealthy. You could be right.
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I think that maybe the original writer of the post "needingadvice" has left the building. It's been 3 days with no replies back to us.
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Hello,
I appreciate everyone’s input. I have not left the building just very busy and didn’t have a notification that I had answers until late last night.
As for the first response my boyfriend is not a sexually driven person. I understand that for most men this would be likely but that is not the case here.
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Other than the sex thing I could understand your points and appreciate your honesty.
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As far as polar bears response. No I do not hate all of those things. I do not hate his mom or dad or aunt. I do not hate him showing excitement for his friends. I just want for him to be able to have his own life without it being controlled by family. And I love that he loves his friends even tho I don’t like them. They are important to him and that is important. I just wish he would show similar excitement with me. I appreciate your response but I really think u missed my point. Obviously I I hate everything about him and don’t see it getting better I would leave.
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"I wish he would show similar excitement with me" is the key statement. The women responding to you average age is somewhere in the 60s. We have been there. You cannot change your boyfriend. Really its nice that he cares about his family. I admit he is young for this responsibility but he wants to do it. Seems like you need more than he can or is willing to give. So you now have to make a decision, support him or break off and find someone who can give you what you need. To me this "love" is one sided. I have a feeling you are pushing for a more serious relationship and he is telling you why he isn't ready for that. If you want to continue this relationship, back off. You don't say how old you are but men don't think about marriage like woman do. From what you have written...he is not ready for a long term relationship. You can't make someone love you.
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Pepsi, I"m not sure why everyone keeps assuming that I hate his parents and his aunt. I never said that I hate them and I never said that I disapprove of him helping them. I did say his mom is needy and controlling and some negative descriptions, which are all true but this does not equate to me hating her! I understand that is life and I think that him sacrificing so much for them is really sweet and shows how much he cares. I would never want or encourage him to abandon them, but it is overtaking his life to the point where he will not be able to enjoy life.
Also I never said his aunt was sick. Also I never pressured him into moving in with me instead of his dad. We just simply had a conversation about how we see ourselves in the future and I shared my goals/wants and he shared his. I'm not trying to change him. He DOES want to live with me but the control and guilt that he feels from his family makes it so he can't have something even if thats what he wants. He wants exactly what his sister has to be moved out and happy and having his own life. And I never pressured him to leave his widow dad or else I would break up with him.. thats not how that conversation went... Our conversation was that if our future goals don't work together it wouldn't be fair to either one of our's happiness. Like you said being open and honest.
I appreciate your attempt at advice but I don't think you understand the situation. Instead it feels like a personal attack on how awful I am that I am trying to change him. No, I just want him to be able to be happy in life, which he is not, under the control of his parents.
You are just going over board with negative assumptions. Never said a lot of those things, but thanks anyways.
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Roger, what I meant by "he can't grow up and have his own life" is that he wants to move out and grow in life while still being there for his family. I don't want him to abandon his family but the level of control from his parents is over taking his whole life. He feels stuck and frustrated and drained and it makes me sad to see him that way. He has cried to me that it makes him sad that this is how he will remember his mom, being mean and controlling and all I am ever trying to do is encourage him to stand up for a healthy balance between his family and his own happiness.
Growing up in a verbally abusive house hold that controls his whole adult life. All I want is for him to be happy, not change him (like a lot of people are assuming).
Thank you for your advice though. I appreciate your thought and definitely can see your point.
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Your boyfriend needs to learn to set boundries. Its hard but maybe he can go to a therapist to help him learn how.

A few weeks back there was another discussion similar to this. The person did the same thing you are. The OP found fault with the suggestions and comments made. You asked "what can I do". I think there is not much more that can be said. Good Luck.
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I really truly appreciate the positive responses given here, even if they are harsh and critical- they are honest.
I do not appreciate the negative responses in which I was falsely quoted and given advice based on incorrect assumptions.
For that reason I am now leaving the conversation.
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These type of threads always make the OP angry because the answers aren’t sugar coated.
Hopefully needingadvice will calmly re-read the advice given in good faith. Her relationship is about to go *poof*.
Her man is tied very tightly to those apron strings ( either parent) . If you are still out there, 
needingadvice, I would drop him. Not worth it. 
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Dang, too late.

I didn't realise this was a new arrival to the forum - as was pointed out, we get so many similar posts and Needingadvice just sort of blended in.

I hope that the penny will eventually drop for this young lady and that she will move on and find someone who, when he says that he really wants to live with her, means that he really wants to live with her. As opposed to that he would rather chain himself to the floor in his parents' basement, literally if need be.
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NeedingAdvice doesn’t want advice, she wants to hear how she can maneuver the affair into marriage. She doesn’t know marriage would be pretty meaningless, she’d still sit waiting for him when he answers emergencies OR more likely, go along when parents crook their fingers...finally she’d answer the calls, while Prince Charming catches up on his sleep. How about kids? Does she have a career now? Will she then?
This girl ‘is in love’. That’s what she thinks.
Needing Advice—have at it sweetie.
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In the old days of the internet, we used to call this kind of chat/forum exit a "flounce."
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Flounce? Never heard that. The word TROLL is familiar! LOL
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Flouncing does take some skill, though. Otherwise it's Diary of A Nobody time: "I left the room with silent dignity, but caught my foot in the mat."

I just hope she'll flounce off from Hopeless Herbert - who clearly doesn't have the, er, wherewithal to be honest with her - with her ego intact.
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