Boyfriend of 3 years broke up with me

My boyfriend of 3 years recently broke up with me out of the blue. We were in a long distance relationship and seen each other 3/4 times a week. He’s had a rough 6 months, his dad and friend passed away within a month of one another and he got into trouble with the police and has to community service twice a week. I know he is very stressed out by it all and hasn’t grieved properly over his losses. But last week he ended things between us, he said he feels like he is missing out with going out with his friends and does not want to be in a relationship anymore (I do not stop him going out, he said he finds it boring). He confessed to cheating on me, on a drunken night out with his friends (around the time he was grieving), I was shocked as it is very out of his character to do that, as he always moans when his friends do it. He kept telling me I’m too good for him, I have more ambition then him etc. He told me he still loves me and was sorry, he was in pieces and could not stop crying. I can genuinely tell he is sorry for cheating and I feel like I can forgive him because I know he isn’t coping well with his loss and has lost his way in the past 6 months. After all this I was crying and he was comforting me, he began to kiss me and tell me he loves he. I told him to stop if we’re not together, we can’t be kissing and acting like a couple. He stopped and to gazed into my eyes, I asked him why he was looking at me like that and he said he didn’t know and looked away. He told me he wants to stay friends and that we can meet up for a drink or to go shopping. When I left to go home we agreed to give each-other space and to meet back up in a week. The following day he text me to say he doesn’t want to be in relationship anymore, he needs to be on his own as he doesn’t know what he’s doing with his life. I’m confused by the whole thing, as we were acting like a couple in the Sunday and on Monday he doesn’t want a relationship anymore, my friends have told that it’s the guilt of his cheating making him act like this but I’m not sure

Hey there, I know this is a tough situation to digest and, most importantly, metabolize. Moving on after such long relationships can be extremely painful, but you may have given a good answer to your worries yourself! I guess it's in what you have written: he's going through a very hard period, and he feels like the best thing to do now is to be on his own, away from you. People tend to lose the ability of thinking straight, during these moments, but you're not meant to give your heart away to help him. I know it may sound stern, but perhaps you should focus on your own good, right now, especially after what he did to you. Respecting your partner is a MUST, there's no excuse to his actions, maybe you should take your time to think about this and to analyze the situation throughly. Much love!