I'm trapped in this predicament.
I’m a 29-year-old man in a relationship with my 22-year-old girlfriend, and we’ve been together for two months. To put it simply, the mix of positives and negatives in our relationship has left me feeling overwhelmed and unsure about the future. When it comes to finances, education, and life goals, she’s definitely in a different league than I am. She seems to have no real need or interest in me, yet paradoxically, she is incredibly enamored with me—her enthusiasm feels like a solid 95 out of 100. She constantly reaches out with calls and texts throughout the day, and on our days off, we spend hours on the phone. I don’t have to make an effort for this connection; she naturally takes charge in our intimate moments without me prompting her. While we do live some distance apart, she has invested significantly in our relationship, often handling transportation and hotel costs for our trips together. I offered to contribute whenever she visited me, but she consistently declined, and I never pressured her to cover my expenses. She frequently talks about me with her friends and has introduced me to her family as well. She makes the effort to come see me whenever she can and goes out of her way to invest in us. Up until now, everything has been remarkably wonderful. When we were together, I asked her if she wanted to commit to a relationship, and she said yes. I mentioned that I had one important rule: she needed to cut off contact with past partners and not engage with them on social media. She agreed without any hesitation. I imposed this rule due to prior experiences that caused me considerable stress. Her ex from a year ago had been messaging her, which she claimed to have blocked. However, after a few weeks, I noticed she hadn’t followed through. I confronted her about it, emphasizing how important this rule was to me, and as a result, we ended up breaking up temporarily. She was visibly upset and even offered to share her social media passwords with me, except for WhatsApp. I never logged into any of her accounts, but she reassured me that she had no lingering connections with anyone from her past, whether romantic or otherwise. I decided to trust her, and we continued our relationship. However, our arguments intensified over the next few weeks concerning this issue. She would cry often, and it took a toll on our sleep schedules, as I worried she might still miss her ex. She continually insisted that she checked her accounts regularly and hadn’t interacted with anyone from her past. But after a while, I discovered messages from a former casual partner she had told me were just friends. Following some conflict, she admitted they had a history together. This ultimately turned our arguments into a matter of trust instead of just focusing on her past relationship. Despite our daily conflicts over her ex, she struggled to remove her former partner from her accounts. It wasn’t until things escalated to the brink of a breakup that she finally deleted and blocked them. Lately, I’ve been feeling more mentally unstable than ever. One moment I’m filled with hope, and the next, I’m consumed by doubt.