u/Chit-Chara

I've been dating my girlfriend for almost 2 years. It's long-distance (she lives in Europe while I'm in the US), however last year we did the impossible and thanks to her having saved up money over the summer we were able to actually visit each other for an entire month. It was an extremely fun time, I got to meet her entire family, and I would overall say we have no real compatibility issues... aside from the fact that it's long-distance.

The main problem is the fact that the American job market is absolute dogshit right now and it's basically impossible for me to return the favor and save up to fly there again myself. The first few months after coming back from Europe were spent applying everywhere and attending a total of 2 job interviews, only for nothing to get back to me.

My dad lives out-of-state, and his long-term plan right now has been to move up to a northern state and set himself up there, with the intention of having me move in with him so I can follow in his footsteps and get a job in the trades, since that seems to be the only good-paying market that hasn't been absolutely bent over by the economy. The state he's moving to also apparently has a much stronger job market than the place I currently live in (an extremely rural ghetto shithole in the middle of SoCal.)

Now the plan is overall very solid, but the issue with it is time: First of all I have to wait a few months for my dad to be ready to pick me up (he only just now moved to the state but still isn't ready for me yet), then i'm gonna learn how to drive and get my license, then im gonna attend a trade program which will probably take an additional 9-12 months, then i actually have to get hired somewhere, then i have to save up enough money, etc. etc. etc. This is gonna be a very time-consuming process and it will likely be an additional 1-2 years before I get to see my girlfriend in person again.

Because of this, as well as the fact that we've been spoiled by real physical contact and now have to do long-distance again for who knows how long, our relationship is slowly drying up. I keep trying to tell her that once I move in with my dad things will hopefully move a lot quicker, but she's growing more impatient and frustrated with it by the day and it's starting to take a toll on me as well because of how mind-numbingly bored i am in the meantime.

I want to emphasize that aside from the long-distance we're very compatible, and we literally met each other in person for an entire month including me meeting her family, but this current phase is definitely driving us crazy and i dont know if it's even worth holding out anymore. i don't want to burden her, so what do i do?

TLDR I flew to Europe to visit my long-distance girlfriend for a month. A year later, I'm still struggling to find employment and have settled on waiting to move out-of-state with my dad and get into a trade. My girlfriend is growing more and more impatient and frustrated by how long this is taking, and we're both slowly drifting apart.