My boyfriend and I fight all the time, but I can't truly break up with him.

My boyfriend and I have been dating for just over a year. At the moment, I'm 30 and he's 23. He is the first and only man who has ever shown any form of romantic/sexual interest in me. We were friends initially, and when he told me that he was interested in me romantically, I was extremely shocked (as I had accepted that no man will ever be interested in me, and I had become extremely insecure as a woman), and initially refused him. He didn't take it very well, and over time continued to pursue me. At the age of 29, I had never fallen in love before or had been in any sort of relationship or even dated once, and must admit I became very flattered with all the attention I was receiving, so eventually I got together with him. He wasn't my ideal man, but he had good heart (still does). My boyfriend is a very emotional, romantic, clingy/needy and touchy-feely person and knowing his past history, falls in love too quickly. And I was the exact opposite of him, and I went ahead into the relationship at my own cautious pace. Unfortunately that created a lot of friction between us from the start. We fought a lot and even broke up a couple of times because I was not reciprocating as fast as he was falling for me, and I felt too pressured. But we would patch things up after some time, and get back together.

After a few months, I did fall in love with him. And I changed... became romantic and said all the things he always wanted me to say and meant them. But that didn't stop us from fighting. He's not perfect, nor am I, and what I have learned about ourselves is that we are completely different as people esp. in our opinions, but react in the same explosive and stubborn way. And in hindsight, most of the issues we fought over were petty and of no consequence, but we just couldn't stop fighting and sometimes even break up. But then he would message me to come back to him, we would apologize to each other and make up. Of course, all this destructive behavior took a toll on both of us, even changed us to the point where we unintentionally reversed our roles. He started to pull away from me, while I became overly emotional, attached and clingy. But no matter what happens, we continue to stay with each other, and continue fighting and getting extremely upset every single time. It's a vicious cycle that we can't break from.

I blame myself in all honesty. It's obvious to me that we are not meant for each other, even though we still love each other very much. I feel we have no future because of all the fighting and all those 'fake' break ups, but I can't find the strength to truly let go of him. He is the only man who has displayed any kind of romantic interest in me, and because of my insecurities, I truly believe no one will ever love me again. And I can't imagine my life without him. I wish we can just stop fighting, because I honestly enjoy being with him otherwise, and he has expressed a million times he wants to marry me and have a future together.

What do I do? Is there a way we can stop the fighting? He's young, so sometimes I hope he might mature a bit later on in life (of course, I need to work on my flaws too). Or is it too late to repair our relationship into something normal and healthy?

(P.S. It was quite therapeutic to put all my problems down into words. Looking forward to your thoughts and suggestions, and I thank you in advance. Have a great day!)

You know you are not meant for each other. So, what you do is you sit him down and explain that to him in a break up. Then you block him so you don't get tempted to get back together.

It might be very bad advice but if you really think you won't find anyone else, and if you want to get married and have a family, and if you love each other even though you fight, then why not stay with him rather than be alone? But don't be clingy!