My(24F) boyfriend(23M) and I are taking a break and I think it's my fault. Is it my fault?
Throwaway Account because my main is known by friends.
I(24F) have been dating my boyfriend(23M) for about 6 months, but we have known each other for almost 6 years. He and I have always liked each other, but have never asked the other out.
He and I are also long distanced as he lives in another country. Our timezones are separated by a 2 hour time difference with me being ahead.
We text daily, but call rarely due to both of our jobs. His job has him working very late, sometimes until my 2 am. While I work early, so sometimes it gets difficult to hang out. Lately it has become harder to hang out with it being roughly once or twice a week. Not only do we get exhausted after work and just want to rest, but our jobs keep us from rarely talking.
He has complained to me before that it bothers him that I dont talk to him enough and I told him that I am trying to talk to him whenever I can and if I remember to message him. He told me it bothers him that I don't remember to message him, which I do feel bad for.
He accepted that I would try harder to remember to message him, but today I forgot to message him while I was at work but was able to tune into a friend's stream. He seemed a little upset that I didn't message him back, but was able to commute with others.
I apologized saying that I saw his message and thought to reply after I was done working on a client, but forgot to do so. He says that being with me has been hard on him mentally because he loves me but it hurts him that he can't hang out with me more. He also said that it hurts him because it didn't seem like I was affected.
I am not good at showing my emotions to others as it has always been dismissed in the past. We talked a bit about my poor communication skills and now he wants to go on a break.
I need advice to help me try to bring us closer or a way to help me try to communicate with him in a healthy manner.