Hi Meredith,

I am in a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend. I came to know him on a social media platform, and was introduced by one of our common friends. He was in a relationship with his ex-girlfriend for nine years and they got engaged, but eventually broke up four months prior to the date of their wedding. She told him she fell out of love.

A year after, I came into the picture. We got to know each other and talked about our lives, our goals, our past experiences. He told me the story about his ex and how it affected him, and that the memory of their relationship still lingers. After a week, he became flirty and I responded in kind. After a six weeks of chatting, we became official. Everything seemed fine – we talked by chat, we did video calls at least three times a week, which took three to five hours each call. He was very sweet and respectful. Then after a month, his place started having a problem with the internet. He’d lose his connection so our communication became limited to chatting. He can call me, but he’s not calling me often because he has to minimize the cost of usage, which I do understand.

Now that our communication has become limited, it has also become dull. Before, he used to send me long good morning and goodnight texts. They’ve become dry. It feels like he has no enthusiasm to chat. I respond similarly. We are both busy during the day and used to communicate at night once we got home. He’s often busy, and now, as a defense mechanism, I stay busy.

I love him and he is worth it. I want to hold on. However, each day I became more insecure. Should I end it? If I do, it will be really hurtful because I love him and he told me he loves me too … but I don’t feel like he’s putting forth any effort in our conversations.

– Distanced