Lightning Prep

Romantic valentine gift for boyfriend

Plus, what to romantic valentine gift for boyfriend about it. You and your boyfriend just made things official, but he already wants to spend so much time with you.

And he wants to know everything about you. And he wants to make sure you make it home—or even to and from work—safely. Um, if it feels like too much, it probably is. You feel like you’re being pursued, and that’s cool and feels amazing—until it feels awful,” says Megan Bruneau, RCC, a therapist in New York City who specializes in relationships and other issues facing her millennial clientele.

But it’s not always easy to distinguish true love from a controlling relationship. So while all those “sweet” moments he spends concerned about your whereabouts could mean chivalry isn’t totally dead, it could also hint at potentially controlling behavior. You’re increasingly isolated from friends and family. Sure, any relationship is a time commitment and may require you to adjust priorities.

Maybe you no longer spend all weekend brunching and binge watching Vanderpump Rules with your girls, or every weeknight glued to work. You don’t have many other people to talk to. Find yourself saying “sorry” a lot, even though you’re not entirely sure what you’ve done wrong? That’s a check in the “controlling partner” box.

You might say, ‘I wasn’t being empathetic enough or patient enough,'” Bruneau explains, or feel like you’re always “messing up. In reality, your partner should be the one apologizing. You’re hiding innocent things from him. Say you go to an impromptu happy hour after work or run into a friend and get sidetracked catching up.