I do this too, I have high expectations I guess. I wonder if it's a sign of being desperate. It drives me crazy and I hate it.

This is interesting to me. I reconnected with a boyfriend from 40 years ago, a couple years after my husband died. He lives 50 miles away, in a city i have always wanted to live in. We have made tentative plans to live there together in a year or so. He calls all the time; no problem there. But he insists that his life is so busy and every function he attends so important to him that there is NO way he can visit me, I have to go to him. It's been a year and I know he has issues, but I'm getting a little tired of it. We are so alike. We can talk about anything and generally agree, so I really don't want to give up the verbal intimacy and, being in my late 60s, I don't see a lot of possibilities for dating.

This is me too. I hang out waiting for my partner to ring, text, messenger etc. I try to keep busy but in reality all i do is long for her. She is far from living her life tho and has a job to do and a home to keep as a single mom. So I just give her space and offer to help wherever necessary. I know I need to just get on and live my life...but without her? never!

There HAS to be a balance. One person cannot drain the other person. Some people are givers and some are takers but the best relationships are between two people who both give and take equally. If you need emotional support, honestly sometimes the best place to find that is in therapy.

I think being a single parent, you formed some habits out of necessity. I place a high value on self reliance and that's not a bad thing. Maybe put your self in the other's shoes, many people really like to help and find it rewarding. Change your outlook just a little, you aren't a burden, cooperation helps both people.

Find somebody like you.

Sorry, that's the best advice I have right now...

I can be like that. I spent a big part of my life putting others' needs and desires first to the detriment of my own, acquiescing to their wishes. Never felt I was worthy or deserving of having my own life. In some strange way it felt like "security" feeling needed like that. But it was really an illusion. To live my life means that other people aren't always going to be supportive, so I have to do that for myself first, ask it of other people, focus on the people who will give it, and walk away from the ones who won't or can't, instead of waiting for them to give it to me. Not easy.

No one can fulfill you. Only you can fulfill you. Please do not define yourself by someone else. Get out there & find what does fill your soul. It will never be someone else. While you squander your life waiting for another's response, your life will pass you by. I fond rescuing animals & restoring habitat fills my soul. Perhaps a counselor will help guide you. She helped me more than once when I became mired. There is a hole in your soul that you must heal & not try to fill with what can not fill you.

You have to internalize that if you don't take care of you, you can't take care of them. Fill your tank and you can fill others easier.

Make sure to have a life of your own. While they're off living their life, you could be off living yours!

I find myself doing this occasionally, it is usually with someone I have on a pedestal. I'll be over enthusiastic, supportive, just extra in general. If I do get what I want, which is for them to love me, I soon have buyers remorse. I've went through this enough to know that something in me is broken.

If I have any advice it is what not to do, or just love yourself enough to not 'wait by the phone'.