I think I might have to end a 6 year relationship

I work at an animal shelter and it is my entire world, I’m so beyond passionate about it. I enjoy talking about it a lot and my family loves to hear about what I love doing. My boyfriend of 6 years does not show interest when I speak about my job or even when I speak about my own pets who are like my children. I have discussed this with him and he now pretends to care. He is so bad at hiding his emotions though, doesn’t respond when I speak, pulls out his phone whenever I begin talking. Of course we have had other issues in our relationship and he’s done things I don’t feel I can forgive. However, this disinterest in everything I love and care about is so constant it has me feeling resentful. I don’t feel much joy with him now. I honestly feel like I don’t want anyone in my life that doesn’t understand and appreciate why I do what I do for work and why I care so much. My boyfriend treats it like it’s embarrassing that I’m content with where I’m at in life. I don’t know if he’s jealous or what. I’ve tried to talk to him about breaking up but he says that if we have been together for so long we can continue to work through things. I don’t know if it’s my fault for not being forgiving or his fault to acting the way he does. I think I’d just rather be alone, I’m happy with myself, I have so much support from my family and my work. How do I convince him to let us break up if that’s what I want? How do I make him understand that these other things mean more to me then he can understand? That I don’t want anything else or anything more right now or in the near future? I’ve tried to get him to understand and he’s just so stubborn.

Yip sounds like you've already got trust issues and really bored of each other. You don't need to convince the man just tell him how you feel. Why waste anymore time when clearly you don't want to be there and he doesn't seem to care. Is this what you want for another 6yrs??? Know your worth. Goodluck 🍀

Hello CATBAT81, I read your forum thread and felt like having a little chat. I wanted to thank you. On behalf of all the animals at the shelter. The world needs people like you. Your unique. Your special. Your important. You should never give up your passion because of somebody else. You don't have to apologise nor change ever just because another person doesn't entirely get you. I felt I could relate a little. Here is why. My daughter is just like you. For her animals have always come before people. She likes to be a voice for them. She cares for them to a degree that I have long since wished I had four legs and a tail. Her whole life has been a steady stream of every pet animal known to mankind. It has been like living in a mini zoo with her. Cats, fish (just about one million LOL), hermit crabs, breeding butterflies, mice and so many others. Dogs are her favourite. She ran her own charitable Guinea Pig Shelter for years out of our backyard. For these reasons I can relate to your post. She studies animals daily through the internet. There is nothing she doesn't know about them. She is currently seeking a career change from diamonds to puppy preschool trainer. What I wanted to say is that for others who don't share your passion in regards to all creatures great and small hearing about them constantly can be a little tedious. If you are a walking encyclopedia about them and talk incessantly about animals it can make the household partner feel a little unneeded and spare. Having said this your partner should not trivialise them, act as though they are disposable or of little importance out of respect for your feelings. Any form of animal welfare is a very respectable career. Animal caretakers are the equivalent to childcare. It is important to the world and the future. It should show him how you are very nurturing. Now that I've covered the animal side of your post I'd like to add my concern that your relationship seems to have reached an impasse. I'm sensing both of you have become a little dull or bored with the other. Worried about the line of communication. Perhaps you and your partner are not completely opening up honestly to each other. Perhaps you need to take steps to reinvigorate the relationship? I am hoping it isn't a sign of something more serious.

(Great posts, you two - mwa!) "How do I convince him to let us break up if that’s what I want? How do I make him understand that these other things mean more to me then he can understand? That I don’t want anything else or anything more right now or in the near future? I’ve tried to get him to understand and he’s just so stubborn." CatBat, are you saying he's making an already excrutiatingly difficult job even harder, to point of impossible? (Haha - next time you see him, try greeting him in a Catwoman suit; that ought to do it!) No, but seriously - is he? And do you live with him?