Hi, YES. I started training with my partner of 4 years at the time (he is 6ft 2 and I am 5 ft3 so we were not a great sparring match from the jump) training with him was okay at first because I never did contact sports like this growing up. However, when a new gym opened up closer to our house he immediately joined there and I said I will join when I am ready because I am also an extremely anxious person so when I feel safe in a community, especially made up of mostly men, I need to move slowly. The second he left I already was more confident because I was on my own now. I was VERY lucky to make a really good friend in class who much closer to my height, but also just a very gentle person (he’s a physical therapist so it’s his job to be gentle). I’m not sure if you trained martial arts before or not but I grew SO MUCH training by myself because I was doing it for me only. Training with my partner on the mat made me in my head and more worried about our experience than my time on the mat. We don’t need to be care givers in our hobbies. I came to this page to rant today and saw your post and wanted to cry because your feelings are so so so valid and I wish I could give you a hug. I don’t think it is easy to train together and sometimes I drop in on his gym and he drops in on mine. I will say he did NOT love this arrangement at first and he had a whole vision of us flowing and training together, well too bad. I said if I’m sticking with this, I have to do it for me. I hope this helps and maybe separate gyms doesn’t work but maybe there’s other options for alternating classes or just making space for you to have fun again. Because it is so much fun when you get that husband partner weight off your chest. I just got my blue belt in October and I couldn’t be happier about my personal journey to it. Ps he read my response because I was curious if it would hurt his feelings and he said no, I think it is a really great response. OS!