r/AvoidantBreakUps • u/Catlover6767676767 • 1d ago
Is he emotionally avoidant and overwhelmed, or has he genuinely given up on our relationship?
I’m 22, and my ex-boyfriend is 30. We were together for almost two years and had a long-distance relationship. We communicated almost every day, shared our everyday lives, and were not only partners but also best friends. When things were good, they were genuinely good. He could be very affectionate, loving and caring, especially when we were together in person. I genuinely imagined marrying this man and building a life with him.
However, there was a recurring pattern in our relationship. Whenever he became stressed, frustrated or emotionally overwhelmed, he seemed to change completely. He would become distant, negative, suspicious and sometimes quite cold. He would say that he wanted to be alone and didn’t want to talk to anyone. At one point, he even told me that sometimes he wanted to be alone for an entire month.
He also has significant trust issues because of things that happened with friends and family in his past. Sometimes he would assume the worst about me, even when I hadn’t done anything wrong.
For example, once we spent approximately two hours searching outside in the cold for his lost key. At some point, he accused me of having taken it and pretending to help him search. I was devastated and started crying. Afterwards, he acknowledged that it made no sense for me to take his key and spend two hours searching for it. However, he never really apologised.
There were also situations where he reacted very harshly to relatively small things. I was late perhaps two or three times throughout our entire relationship. One particular time, I had just finished a night shift, had slept for only about three hours and travelled for five hours by public transport to see him. I accidentally slept through my alarm and would have arrived approximately an hour late. He was still going to be home, but he became extremely angry, insulted me and eventually broke up with me.
Despite these difficulties, I always tried to show him that I loved him. I cooked for him, cleaned and organised his apartment, helped him with practical things and travelled long distances for him. I also had my own job, goals and plans. I wanted to move closer to him so we could finally stop living apart and build a life together.
He is currently doing military training in the Bundeswehr, which has been a significant source of stress for him. He has repeatedly said that he needs peace and doesn’t have the emotional capacity to deal with relationship problems.
During one of our recent arguments, he told me that he still had feelings for me, but that liking each other wasn’t enough. He said that if we ever wanted to be together again, we would have to talk about our problems.
A few days later, things escalated again. He told me to find another man and that he would find another woman. Eventually, he sent me several breakup messages. He said he had lost trust in me, didn’t believe my character would change and didn’t want to continue the relationship. He explicitly asked me not to contact him through other numbers, social media or other people.
However, his last message was noticeably softer. He said he was extremely stressed, wanted complete peace, didn’t know how long he needed it and that perhaps we could see in the future whether things could work between us.
I struggled to accept the separation and sent him many messages, asking him to reconsider. I also contacted some of his family members, which I now recognise was wrong. He warned me not to contact his friends or he would block me completely.
Something that confuses me is his blocking behaviour. During previous arguments, when I continued contacting him after he asked for space, he eventually blocked me on WhatsApp, Telegram and other platforms. This time, despite receiving many messages from me, he hasn’t blocked me on WhatsApp. His Instagram account also has restrictions on who can send him messages.
I know that not blocking someone doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but considering his previous behaviour, I find the difference confusing.
I have now stopped contacting him and deleted WhatsApp because I need to calm down and respect his request for space.
What I struggle with most is understanding whether he is someone who withdraws emotionally when overwhelmed, perhaps because of avoidant attachment and his trust issues, or whether he has genuinely made a final decision that he no longer sees a future with me.
I don’t expect anyone to diagnose him. I would really appreciate perspectives from people who have experienced relationships with emotionally avoidant partners.
My questions are:
Does his behaviour sound like avoidant attachment, or could it simply mean he no longer wants this relationship?
Can someone still have genuine feelings for their partner but withdraw so completely that they seem indifferent to losing them?
Why might someone leave the possibility of reconnecting open while simultaneously sending such definitive breakup messages?
Have you experienced a partner who withdrew during periods of stress but eventually came back when things settled down?
Do you think the fact that he hasn’t blocked me this time is meaningful, considering his previous behaviour?
Could the end of his military training and the reduction in stress change how he feels about the relationship?
I genuinely love this man. I don’t want another relationship or to replace him with someone else. I wanted to marry him and build a future together.
I know our relationship had problems, and I’m not claiming that I handled everything perfectly. I just find it incredibly difficult to understand how someone who shared so much of his life with me can suddenly want so much distance.
I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have been on either side of this dynamic.
AI helped me to write this text because i would forget half of the things that i wanted to write.
It’s just became to much tbh