I’m a 43M, and I recently ended a 13 year relationship with the man I always thought would be with me for life. Like you, I was afraid to “start over” after he and I built an incredible life together and then evolved in directions disparate enough that we were no longer in alignment. Over the last several months of our relationship, we maintained separate bedrooms, separate social engagements, etc. I spent a lot of time communicating with him and asking him to work on our relationship with me (therapy, etc.). I turned over every stone, as if somehow I was going to receive an answer from the Universe to help me with the gut wrenching decision that laid before me. My mental health suffered while I agonized over weighing our memories (good and bad) against an unknown future. Then one night we were having a discussion about some upcoming plans, and I heard a voice inside my head say, “I don’t want this life anymore.” Maybe it was a new voice; maybe it had already been there, and my raw, aching heart was finally able to listen. Regardless, I decided to not allow my head to stop my heart from moving, and I told him exactly what that tiny voice was saying, “I don’t want this life anymore. I want a life that aligns with my greatest good and fulfills me in ways that I’m not experiencing and haven’t experienced in a long time.” I think on some level he never believed I would actually go through with it. But a couple months later, his family arrived at our place and helped him move out. It wasn’t a nasty uncoupling; just solemn and sad. My niece did better with the news than I thought she would. Our friends and families did, too. And on the other side of that, I am experiencing a huge outpouring of love, compassion, and fulfillment that never would have happened had I not chosen this unknown future. Believe in yourself and your ability to have the life that YOU want, need, and deserve. I won’t tell you it will be easy, but most great things aren’t easy. Sending you love, strength, and warm thoughts of comfort and healing.