My boyfriend [M25] and I [F21] were enjoying our holiday day trip when he nudged me, saying I was “walking too slowly for him.”
Hello, I've noticed a pattern with my partner that has been increasingly frustrating, especially today. Typically, he walks ahead of me, but during our holiday while following a tour guide, he started to walk faster than I could manage, as he often does. To make matters worse, he rarely shows affection in public, which left me feeling a bit down, especially when I saw other couples walking side by side or holding hands. At one point, he grabbed my wrist and tugged me along, complaining that I was walking too slowly, even pushing my back several times throughout the tour. He never offered his hand or matched my pace. Additionally, he often undermines me; today, he repeatedly pointed out how poor I am at taking photos. I’ve noticed he frequently makes jokes about my appearance and insecurities. Later that evening, while we were in our hotel room, I felt dismissed when I tried to engage him in conversation, as he became engrossed in Instagram or TikTok instead. When he did decide to play fight with me, he accidentally hurt my arm. When I mentioned it afterward, he became defensive, arguing that I hadn’t said "stop" because I had laughed during the playful moment. I explained that I did say stop several times and that I tend to laugh when tickled, even if I don't like it. He shifted the blame onto me and was quite rude, which made me cry while he slept soundly beside me, making me feel like I had imagined asking him to stop, as he often does. Despite being together for over a year, he’s never said "I love you." Most of the dates I’ve planned have been canceled because he claimed to be “ill” or simply didn’t want to do what I had in mind. There was a time I paid for tickets to Winter Wonderland, but he canceled on the day, saying he was sick, yet he still went to central London to meet a friend, leaving me feeling like a third wheel. He got upset when I expressed my disappointment about missing our date, which was non-refundable. For our first Christmas together, while out at a pub with his friends, he ordered me a drink that I had just said I didn’t like, and when I didn’t express enough gratitude for it, he started an argument. Rather than handle it maturely, he texted me to tell me to get a taxi to his place or stay without him, which led to us leaving early, with his friends unaware of what had transpired. His negative behavior towards me is consistent, and I'm feeling uncertain about what to do next. Recently, when I asked him to accompany me to see my parents, he claimed to have university assignments, but later I found out he met his friends that same day because he didn’t want to disappoint them. It feels like he constantly puts me down in ways he wouldn’t dare with others. There’s so much more I could share, but I don’t want to make this too long. Can anyone share whether this kind of behavior is typical and if I’m perhaps being overly dramatic about it?