The texts become less and less frequent. Plans feel as though they're never set in stone (if they don't fall through altogether). The tone mood changes from joyful to tenuous. When someone starts pulling away, the shift is usually subtle at first, but gets more noticeable over time. What makes it so unsettling isn’t always the distance itself, but the confusion. You start replaying conversations in your head, wondering what changed, and feeling the urge to fix it before it slips further away. But nailing down what exactly ought to be fixed becomes a challenge in itself. Before long, you're blaming yourself, wondering if you did something to cause this palpable distance. Pulling back typically means one of a few things. Sometimes it’s about the other person’s discomfort with closeness. As intimacy builds, vulnerability increases — and not everyone is good at regulating that. For some, especially those with more avoidant tendencies because of pas...
Tips on relationships, careers, personality, and understanding why people think and act the way they do.