You adore your boyfriend, so when he says he’s not happy and wants space, it’s bound to hurt. You immediately, and understandably, come to the conclusion that he wants to break up with you. Although he repeatedly tells you that he is not like that, your female instinct tells you otherwise. You’re right. The moment a man says that he needs space, time, distance, or any combination of these, he is getting out of the relationship. Unless he acts quickly and in exactly the right way, the relationship as he knows and wants it is over.
When he says he’s not happy and wants space, what he’s really telling you is that he’s not happy with you and needs some distance from you. It hurts when you hear this. In many cases, the woman won’t even expect to hear anything remotely like this. In her mind, things were going well and she was completely and totally focused on the future. That is probably exactly what you are feeling as well. It’s easy to get caught up in feeling sorry for yourself. However, she must put that aside in order to focus on her plan to keep him and rebuild their faltering relationship.
Arguing with him when your boyfriend says he’s not happy and needs some time will only make him feel more justified in his decision. Conflict may well be at the root of the problems you are facing. If you try to fight him over his decision to leave you, he’ll likely cut off contact forever and then you’ll lose your chances of ever being with him again. Instead, you have to find the inner strength to accept that he is unhappy and you have to let him go, at least for the short term.
By giving him the space he wants, you are showing him that you are emotionally mature. You also make sure that he sees that his needs come before yours. What most women don’t see when they’re in the middle of a situation like this is that her boyfriend thinks he knows what her life will be like after the breakup. For him there is the promise of fun-filled, conflict-free nights once he is single. The reality of that is quite different. He will quickly realize how much he misses you. If you can step back and give him what he wants, he’ll soon see that what he really wants isn’t space or time, it’s you.