Girlfriend:
Girlfriend is a (in my opinion) 10/10, and 10 by her personality. She's funny, creative, intelligent, determined, very humble and very genuine. Been dating exclusively for almost 1 year and 8 months. We are often on the same wavelength, we have a typical "good relationship". She has a small but close circle of friends whom I all get along with and her best friend is also in a relationship. We chat every day and meet up in person every other day and we (used to) have very good chemistry. She describes me as being "above and beyond" as a boyfriend. So things seem good right?
Situation:
Perhaps it is just me, but in the past couple of months the quality of our relationship has been declining and we're losing our chemistry. Our sex life has been declining (though she works a night job at a bar/nightclub so she is usually tired) but when she does have enough energy, it doesn't feel like she really wants me. It just feels like we simply "do it" and that's that aka a lack of passion. And I thought this could be because of my appearance or my personality. I feel I have let myself go appearance wise. And I have a very similar personality to hers but sometimes I feel suppressed - like being with her just drains my energy and happiness. She rarely compliments me anymore, her efforts toward the relationship are declining and that's got me thinking - am I to blame? It's fair to say my self-esteem has taken a hit. Our relationship simply doesn't feel as rewarding or fulfilling as it used to. At times it feels like she doesn't care about our relationship and doesn't want me. This is evident in her behavior, her body language, even the way she talks to me - sometimes she talks down at me. And these things add up and create my self-doubt. And self-doubt as some of you may know, is like a cancer for happiness and self-fulfillment.
Problem:
I want to go back to "my old self". Where I was confident, determined, where I woke up in the morning and felt good. I used to be very driven, I did things with my time and I felt happy in my relationship. To re-iterate, I love my GF very much and she loves me very much, but I want to do what I can personally to improve our relationship and improve my self-esteem hand-in-hand.
tl;dr, I want to feel happier with myself but the current state of my relationship is harming my self-esteem and I want to improve myself.
Any ideas on how to improve myself and become happier in myself are much appreciated
- Alex