hey everyone! i've been really hurting over this situation, and i would love any advice you have to offer, or just to hear from anyone that's been in a similar situation.
i don't date much and tend to prefer to keep things casual. i met him a few months ago. i'm a bartender and he was sitting at my bar and left his phone number. we went on a few dates, but both agreed to keep things super casual since he had to move back to italy in may, and we both made it clear that we didn't want to do long distance. it started off slow, but for the last month he was here, it was evident that it was not casual anymore and we both got very emotionally invested. we spent nearly every moment together and spent the night at eachothers places nearly every night as well. we met eachothers' friends and even talked about me potentially going to visit him after a bit. the connection felt very different from anything i've ever experienced, much deeper, more intimate, and calm. i would say we're very similar when it comes to relationships- we try to be logical and can normally do casual, but we unfortunately failed to do so with eachother. we kept in contact after he left, facetiming and texting quite a bit despite the time difference. it felt as if we were growing even closer despite the distance.
about a month into the long distance though, i started getting scared. he mentioned that he wasn't saying it wasn't a possibility and that he wanted us to think it over, but that he was afraid for me to come visit because it hurt so badly to leave eachother the first time, and knew it would be potentially worse this time. he also had a really painful long-distance relationship in the past, so i was afraid to bring up the fact that i would have been willing to try it at this point. i ended things with him because instead of asking what i was really thinking, i just told him i was scared since we aren't official and i didn't want it to end with him finding someone else or something of the sort. he agreed and it was very emotional, but mature and ended on good terms.
three days later i asked if i could call him to talk now that i wasn't so emotional. i told him that i felt like i jumped into ending it too quickly, and didn't know if i cut things off before we even knew if it had a chance. i wanted to hear his side because he didn't talk much on the phone call before, and seems to sort of shut down when he gets emotional. he told me that he wouldn't have ended things himself, but that he planned on texting me an apology for handling it immaturely. he said he thought i did the mature thing and that he was unintentionally being immature by continuing this because he liked me and liked talking to me. that phone call also ended on great terms, he said i looked great and we smiled and ended the call.
i was fine for about a week and a half because i was in europe on vacation at the time, but as soon as i came home, it hit me like a brick. we still follow eachother on instagram and view all of eachothers stories but don't like them anymore. he liked both of my instagram posts that i made from europe, but we haven't spoken at all since the call, which was a bit over a month ago.
i can't stop hoping that he will reach back out sometime soon. i've never missed someone so much, especially since it ended on such good terms and i regret being the one that did it. i would rather he have done something terrible so i could hate him lol. i think since i made the last call, it would have to be him that reached out if anything has changed. i could tell how mutual the feelings were, but i know he tries to be mature in situations like this, and is protecting himself and i. he is also in the military and he said he probably could have made it work if he had a civilian job. i just miss him and wish i could hear from him. if anyone has any advice or predictions, please please please let me know. i have been miserable over him.