Nothing divides men and women more than thinking about why relationships end. Us women are pretty into the idea of true love. We grow up planning our weddings or even getting fake married to that boy who lives right down the street. We totally believe in happily ever after and don’t understand why anyone would ever think otherwise. After all, who wouldn’t want to fall in love and stay that way? But then, of course, we get older and start dating and get into relationships ourselves and realize that, oops, things aren’t quite that simple. Guys have a lot of weird ideas about relationships and, lucky for us, we get to experience this firsthand (that was sarcasm btw). If we’ve ever been left confused and heartbroken, we know that this is true.
Here are 15 dumb but real reasons that guys have ended relationships. And no, these reasons won’t ever make much sense.
15Because Their Friends Are Single
A lot of guys care a lot about what their friends think. Like a lot. They want to fit in and feel a whole lot more insecure than we might even realize. This can be super confusing because while us ladies love our friends, we don’t make every choice in our lives according to what they’re doing. Sometimes guys end relationships because their friends are single. Yes, really. We think this is absolutely crazy because no one will ever date the way that their friends do or be in relationships at the same time. It’s pretty nuts to expect that to happen. But a lot of guys worry that they’re missing out on tons of bro time or they wonder if they’re missing out by hanging out with their girlfriend all the time instead of their good friends. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to us (okay, it makes zero sense at all) and yet this keeps happening.
14Because They Want To Be Single
On the other hand, a lot of guys will dump an amazing girl because they want to be single. They feel that they should live the solo life while they still can and they want to basically get it all out of their system. This is really confusing to us women because we know how awful being single can be. We hate going on a million first dates just to meet one decent person and we hate all the lonely evenings we spend alone watching Netflix when all we want is for one cool person to be sitting next to us, watching too. We don’t understand the concept of ending a perfectly good relationship in order to go back to the single life once again. We just don’t. But hey, that’s the difference between genders, right? It’s just one more reason why they say that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. We’re definitely living on totally separate planets sometimes.
13Because They Get Scared
The truth is that we don’t get scared of emotional intimacy or getting close to someone, but a lot of guys do and that’s a huge reason that a lot of them end relationships. It’s a pretty silly and stupid reason because that’s why we get into relationships in the first place. We want to be close to someone, have a partner in life, and feel like someone truly gets us. We want someone to be there no matter what’s going on, to share in the good moments and to help us through the bad ones, and we think that’s what makes having a boyfriend so amazing and magical. Unfortunately, a lot of guys are pretty much terrified of showing any form of emotion and they just don’t want to fall in love. When they’ve already fallen for someone, they freak out about it and end the relationship when they really shouldn’t. Talk about dumb for sure.
12Because They Hate Marriage
The thing is that a lot of guys say that they hate marriage… when they’re not even in a legit position to even consider it, let alone become engaged. If we’re dating someone, chances are we’re not thinking about marrying them anytime soon. Sure, we might be really into them and it might be a remote possibility for the future. But that’s the future. That’s not right now. A lot of guys feel like they hate marriage because they don’t want to get married today or tomorrow. Well, a lot of us don’t want to, either, so that’s not really a problem. It’s silly for guys to end relationships when marriage isn’t even on the table. Sure, sometimes it can become the issue that breaks a couple up if one person wants that and the other doesn’t, but for the most part, some guys worry about this issue way too soon. We think they should probably chill out about this one.
11Because They Felt Trapped
There’s a horrible stereotype about girlfriends that we’ve all heard way too many times: that we tend to force our boyfriends to hang out with us pretty much 24/7. We nag and complain and whine all the time, and we never seem happy with them, no matter what they say or do. We never want them to hang out with their fiends and we never want them to have a life at all. Sound familiar?! Yeah, it probably does, unfortunately. The truth is that we really don’t behave this way. We want our own lives and we expect our boyfriends to have their own lives, too. But a lot of guys don’t believe us and when we innocently ask to spend more time with them, they basically freak out and claim that we’re trying to ruin their lives or something. They feel super trapped even though we’ve done nothing to make them feel that way and so they break up with us. Sigh.
10Because They Wanted To Play The Field
Ugh. It’s so annoying when some guys think that there is always someone better out there waiting for them. Some guys break up with their girlfriends because they want to play the field. They feel that there must be at least one other woman out there that they should be dating, and hey, if they have to date about five women at once, then so be it. They don’t see a problem with that and they would rather explore their options than be “tied down” to be one woman. This sucks for us women, of course, since that means that we’re competing with these imaginary girls that our boyfriends are thinking about all the time. All we can do when we get dumped for this reason is chalk it up to immaturity and know that one day, we’ll meet someone who likes us for who we are and who is willing to stick around to get to know us better.
9Because They Fell For Another Girl
While a lot of relationships end because of cheating or because someone meets someone else, it’s still pretty ridiculous. When a guy falls for another girl and dumps his current girlfriend, that’s a really dumb thing. Why? Because no one is ever as amazing or perfect or magical as we think that they are. If we think that someone is going to save us and make our lives better, we have to keep thinking because we’re not being realistic. Most guys are going to realize that they knew girlfriends are not any more special than their old ones because hey, we’re all human beings here. But unfortunately, a lot of guys make the silly decision to think that the new girl they’ve just met is going to be better than their current girlfriend, and there’s not much we can do about that. It happens a lot and it’s probably going to keep happening.
8Because They Felt They Messed Up
Sometimes guys will commit to a girl and everything seems to be going super well… until he completely freaks out and feels that he messed up by committing to her. Oops. It’s a real shame when this happens because there are so many people walking around who are too scared to be in a real relationship, and a lot of the time, they do want to find love. Of course, they do. Everyone does, right? It’s a real human emotion and it’s something that truly makes the world go round. A lot of guys feel that they committed too soon or like they just can’t handle having a girlfriend, so they end the relationship very early on. We’ve all had this happen to us at least once and it’s never, ever fun. That’s why when we tell our friends about it, they’re not surprised in the least to hear about yet another commitment phobe out there.
7Because They Wanted Perfection
Thanks to Hollywood and the media, it can be easy to think that relationships should look perfect. Movie couples always look amazing and seem to never have any real issues… and if they struggle with something, well, by the time the end credits roll, it’s all good once again. Of course, real life never, ever looks like this, and that can be a hard fact for some people to grasp. Another real but dumb reason guys can end relationships? That would be when they want their girlfriend and relationship to be totally perfect and real life is getting in the way. Some guys don’t know how to sustain a normal relationship and solve problems without freaking out about it. They think that they have to leave at the first sign of trouble, which of course is nuts because things are going to happen and it’s not always going to be all rainbows and butterflies.
6Because They Were Having A Rough Time
Of course, life does get in the way of even the best and closest relationships, and that means that sometimes, we’re dealing with something really difficult when we get into a new relationship. Maybe we got fired, or changed careers, or are having a super stressful time at work. Maybe we’re dealing with a health issue or something in our family. We know that things aren’t always perfect and that it’s okay to go through rough times. But a lot of guys think that if they’re struggling with something in their work or personal life, that means they can’t be in a relationship. They get kind of laser-focused about this stuff and don’t think that a girlfriend fits into the mix. They just think it’s way too much to deal with. While we do sympathize and understand this, we also think that life is never going to be great all the time and ruining relationships because of it is kind of ridiculous.
5Because They Had A Crisis
This would typically be called a mid-life crisis, but when we’re dating in our 20s we tend to hear that guys are freaking out about not settling down, so let’s just call it a crisis. Maybe it’s a quarter-life crisis, we’re not really sure. But whatever the official term, we definitely all agree that this is a super dumb reason that guys end relationships. They act like they’re still so young so they can’t possibly settle down. But the thing is that we’re all young… but we won’t be forever. There’s a little thing called aging and those birthdays happen once a year whether we like that or not. Eventually, we’re all going to get sick of being single and alone, and we’re going to want to find love. So if guys claim they’re too young to be in a relationship but they never stop feeling and thinking that way, they’re always going to be on their own. It’s pretty silly.
4Because They Got Nervous
Sometimes guys end relationships for the super real but dumb reason that they get too nervous about getting serious. They suddenly think that this isn’t the right person for them and that they should be on their own instead. It’s like they think they’re about to make the biggest mistake of their lives or at least a really bad decision. This is not only a dumb reason for breaking up with someone but also kind of insulting to us, right? We think we are definitely worth loving and being given a chance, and we think that a lot of guys jump ship way too easily. They get cold feet, essentially, and they just don’t think that they can be someone’s boyfriend. Eventually, we realize that them breaking up with us was a really good thing since at least we didn’t waste our time with someone who wasn’t able to really commit or be the best boyfriend that they could be. But it still absolutely sucks to get dumped for this reason.
3Because They Didn’t Feel Good Enough
We have all been told that we are too intimidating or that we make guys feel like they are just not good enough for us. Sure, we know that we are pretty awesome and we are confident… but we do not love hearing this. We feel badly that some people feel this way because we never want to make anyone feel less than us. There is a difference between being conceited and confident and we always strive for confidence instead. Sometimes guys will break up with their girlfriends because they feel like their girlfriends deserve better and they are not good enough for them. This is extra heartbreaking because we never do anything to make them feel this way, they just tend to go down that negative road themselves. We wish that guys would just stop acting like having successful girlfriends reflects badly on them because it honestly does not.
2Because They Changed Their Mind
We’ve all had the really unfortunate and confusing experience of starting to date someone new. They seem totally into us and the feeling is definitely mutual. We get along really well and all signs point to this being the beginning of a great relationship. Then… it all comes crashing down. Suddenly this guy acts like he had zero intent on being with us at all and like we’re kind of nuts for even believing that he could like us. We want to pull our hair out because we don’t get what’s going on here, not for a single second. So what happened? This guy changed his mind. He thought that he liked us, or that he wanted something serious, and then he realized that he didn’t. A lot of guys end relationships for this super silly reason. Honestly, people need to figure out how they feel before making any grand promises.
1Because They Wanted Love
Sometimes guys break up with their girlfriends because they just don’t feel completely and totally in love. They don’t feel any sparks and they don’t think that the connection is really deep enough so they figure there’s no point in staying in the relationship. Sure, we would never want someone to stay with us when they didn’t feel the way that we did, but on the other hand, this stuff takes time. The physical stuff definitely fades and there has to be a strong foundation of friendship or it’s never going to work out. But the truth is that love does take time to build. We can’t fall in love with someone instantly, no matter how much we might believe that’s true (but we tend to believe that love at first sight is pretty much lust at first sight…). We agree that love is super important and no one should ever settle. But sometimes guys dump their girlfriends without waiting for the love to build and grow the way that it’s supposed to. Sigh.
