• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
  • We hope the site problems here are now solved, however, if you still have any issues, please start a ticket in Contact Us

Break up etiquette

Living4Him03

Just wanna dance with you
Nov 16, 2003
3,274
103
43
Fort Worth, Texas
Visit site
✟26,465.00
Faith
Protestant
If my b/f breaks up with me, which I am thinking might happen ( I haven't heard from him at all in over two weeks and I don't have his new number since he moved), what is a graceful way to accept the break up?

Let's say I wanted to tell him that I hope he does well in all he does or something like that. Is that appropriate or does that just seem like a guilt trip? I don't want to make him feel guilty, because if he is going to break things off, I know he will have good reasons, not just being a jerk type of thing.

How could I best respond?
 

katelyn

Senior Veteran
Oct 6, 2003
2,309
105
43
✟25,445.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
That sounds fine to me...actually it sounds like a very mature response. To me, a guilt trip would be more along the lines of telling him how unhappy you are going to be or how unfair it is that he's breaking up with you. Wishing him well is a nice thing to do...something that not everyone would have an easy time doing, I think.
 
Upvote 0

Living4Him03

Just wanna dance with you
Nov 16, 2003
3,274
103
43
Fort Worth, Texas
Visit site
✟26,465.00
Faith
Protestant
Thanks! Yah, I don't want to make him feel guilty or try to be mean or anything. Like I said, if it does happen it will be for a good reason that I would probably agree with, even if it's that he's met someone he is interested in and feels God wants him to pursue a relationship with her. Sure, it will hurt, but that does not mean that he's intentionally trying to hurt me. It would be different if he were cheating or lying to me. I'd rather him realize I'm not the one for him or now isn't the right time for us to date and break things off than to keep trying to work things out when He doesn't feel that's God's will. I really wish I could talk to him right now, but I never was able to get his new number...we have both beeing in the processing of moving to different places (in the same area though) and we have been busy, so I did not get the chance to get it. I've emailed, but he rarely responds to emails.

I am thinking he is busy and maybe he has needed some time away from me to just think about "us" and what he believes is the right thing to do. So, I will just wait patiently I guess and try to focus on school and hope to hear what's going on soon!

God bless you katelyn! You are so sweet to answer my posts!
 
Upvote 0

Living4Him03

Just wanna dance with you
Nov 16, 2003
3,274
103
43
Fort Worth, Texas
Visit site
✟26,465.00
Faith
Protestant
no break up yet, but I'm still not going to say there won't be one. I sure hope not! I had a situation in the past witha guy where he would always say he was busy all the time. He would not contact me for a week or two and then out of the blue he'd call. He'd try to plan something with me and only half of the time did the plans end up working out. He liked to go golfing on the weekends and if it conflicted with hanging out with me, he chose golf. Then he'd have to make all these trips to this other town to check on his "friend" and babysit for her kid. If she called him and he had made plans with me, he'd cancel with me. Then, another week or so would go by and I didn't hear a thing from him, yet he acted like he really wanted to date me.

I guess I just do not want that to happen again...at the time I didn't see what was going on. I was pretty naive about the whole thing. Now I see what was happening, and after not hearing from my current b/f for two weeks, I got pretty worried. He has been saying he's been busy getting his new place settled and reading stuff for work, etc. I want to believe him, but part of me also is doubtful because of what happened before. He also said he's been watching tv when he gets home and reading, which is great. He shouldn't base his whole life on me and vice versa. But not even emailing back, calling, nothing for two weeks? It just does not sit well with me. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.
 
Upvote 0

LifeInYou

a little lamb...*baaaa
Feb 11, 2003
604
27
41
Cali
Visit site
✟23,405.00
Faith
Non-Denom
How long did the most time past, prior to this time, when he hadn't contacted you, and then he eventually did? It doesn't appear that he's interested anymore, I determine that based on reading this thread as well as others you've posted about him. I agree, it's not good to jump to conclusions, but it's not good 'think away' any possiblity of him ending the relationship, especially considering his actions, or lack thereof. Nobody should treat anyone like that. No matter how busy you are, you *can* take 2 minutes out of your schedule to acknowledge the other person. Perhaps this fellow isn't worth your (romantic) time/thoughts/feelings anymore?

Hope this wasn't too harsh. :sorry:
 
Upvote 0

Jill Pole

Member
Apr 17, 2004
9
1
✟134.00
Faith
Calvinist
You have such a positive and mature attitude toward all of this. I've recently been in a similar situation, and I can relate to everything you said about not wanting to make him feel guilty, giving him time to make up his mind, thinking he might be busy ... all these things show that you care about him, wish him well, and respect his feelings.

But you have feelings too! Please respect your own feelings as much as you're respecting his. You said "not even emailing back, calling, nothing for two weeks? It just does not sit well with me. Maybe I'm just being paranoid." You're not being paranoid at all - your gut is telling you something's wrong. And something IS wrong - this is not the way a man should treat his girlfriend, even if he IS busy! You have a right to expect better. Even good guys can take their girlfriends for granted on occasion, but if they're truly good guys, they'll want to treat you right - although sometimes "treating you right" means "releasing you for something better."

And you don't have to wait around for him to break up with you. That's exhausting and demoralizing. I think you'll feel better if you take some control of the situation. It sounds like you have his email address. You could write him a letter saying you enjoyed your time with him because of A, B, and C, but have noticed he hasn't attempted to contact you in 2 weeks. Tell him you want to be in a relationship that includes <insert the things you want in a relationship here. Do some soul-searching - what DO you really want? And as you do this, keep in mind that God valued you enough to die for you!> If you focus your letter objectively on what you want in a relationship instead of the ways he hasn't been "measuring up" it won't be accusatory, just honest and straightforward. End by saying that you're guessing from his recent (lack of) actions that he must NOT want this kind of relationship with you, so you're going to move on to find someone who does.

This puts the ball in his court. He'll know what you want from a relationship and can decide for himself if that's what he wants too. If so, great! If not - well, you've lost nothing except two more weeks wondering if he's ever going to call you again.

Bottom line: You deserve to be with a man who really treasures you and wants to be with you. Being single is far less lonely than being with a man who's lukewarm about you and takes you for granted. For one thing, you miss out on the better plan God has for you - and at worst, you start suppressing your own legitimate feelings and even starting to believe that the things your heart desires from a relationship are wrong.

My perspective is influenced by the fact that I recently got out of a situation where I'd been suppressing my gut - and once I got out, it was as if fog had lifted! The things you said were so familiar to me - I truly empathize for you in this situation. If you'd like to, you are welcome to message me privately through the forum. God's blessings to you! :hug:
 
  • Like
Reactions: LifeInYou
Upvote 0

Living4Him03

Just wanna dance with you
Nov 16, 2003
3,274
103
43
Fort Worth, Texas
Visit site
✟26,465.00
Faith
Protestant
Wow! Thank you Jill Pole! It feels so good to know someone else has been there!

I did hear from him, yesterday, but I didn't really say what I wanted, I couldn't really figure out how to organize my thoughts. Your post has helped me figure out how to organize what I want to say so that it comes across the way I want it to come across to him. I asked him about being busy and asked what he does on weekends. He told me he has been busy and has been doing stuff to fix his apartment up and errands on the weekends. He also said he watches tv and reads when he gets home from work during the weekdays. Our conversation was pretty brief. That's one thing that bothers me, he'll say he's tired, get online to im me instead of calling, and then expect me to do all the talking.

You are right though, I need to be honest and straightforward about what I need in a relationship and the fact that I'm not getting that with him. There are many things I enjoy about dating him. He is very supportive and encouraging. However, there are some concerns and whether they are ficitious or not, I need to express them to him. He does want us to be open with communication, so if he really cares about me he will listen and respect my needs as well.

It's not hard to think that I deserve a guy who treasures me and really wants to be with me,it's the fact that I've never met a guy like that. I just don't stand out to guys. But to my b/f I do stand out, and that's part of why I like him. He knows many of my quirks and personality traits that some guys would not like all that much. Anyway, I guess I feel like WHEN? WHEN IS A GOOD, CHRISTIAN, HUMBLE, CUTE, FUNNY, KIND, GODLY GUY GOING TO NOTICE ME AND TAKE INTEREST? It's never happened before, except possibly with the current guy. I just want a guy to talk to me or get to know me and say "Melissa is great...she's interesting, she seems like a Godly woman, I definitely want to get to know her"...but that just does not happen. I don't even go to church anymore while at school...I go when I'm home but at school I don't go because I know I'll be shy and will bring up controversial questions instead of just being quiet, and people won't like that and will not want to get to know me. I know church is not all about socializing, but fellowship is important.

I am going to have a talk with him once I get moved and find out what is going on with him. If he can't meet the needs I have for a relationship, then I just can't continue dating him. Thank you so much Jill Pole and God bless you! I think those are the sweetest, kindest, most empathic words someone has said to me (typed)!
 
Upvote 0