Hey everyone - new here, and could really do with some advice! Sorry, fairly long post.
My boyfriend and I have been together for a year and a half, and been involved for 2 1/2 years. We turned LDR in September as we were both going to separate universities (he's 19, I'm 18). Now we're back home and have talked properly, he decided on Monday that we needed to be on a break for a bit - he says he needs the time alone to figure out what he really wants. He says that we aren't how we used to be, we've both changed and he hasn't been 'feeling it' like he used to.
I can agree that things haven't been the same. Things have been hard and he's been very hot and cold with me, especially this past week leading upto Christmas - although I leave that down to the fact he's been confused about what he wants - even if I was annoyed and upset with him acting the way he has been doing. He even admitted himself that I'd been putting in a lot of effort, he hadn't been putting in as much and that I didn't deserve that. I think this was the best time to have a break as he's going away over New Year, which means we aren't pressured into seeing each other.
However, he's also said that he misses how we used to be, and that this isn't necessarily 'the end' - he said he still loves me and that even when I said most breaks don't turn out good, he said this might be different. He said that he doesn't want to see the break to be for seeing other people, and when I asked him whether there was anyone else, he said 'no' and that shouldn't be thought of in the equation. On top of this, he said he didn't mind me telling people that we're on a break and not properly split up.
All in all, I don't really know how to deal and cope with it, and him. I know nothing's set in stone as of yet, but I don't want to hurt anymore than I already do - but I don't want to move on if he decides he wants to give us another chance and make more effort. I want us to not only be happy with ourselves, but be happy in each other's company by the end of this - be that as friends, or more. My boyfriend has been with me through so much - my Mum died at the end of August because of her breast cancer, and my Grandpa died at the end of November too. It's been a pretty **** year, and at the end of the day I'm really scared of losing a guy who has given me so much support, and I don't know what I'd do without him.
Advice would be fab.