Things have been rough with my husband, Chris. There’s a growing distance between us, and it’s like we’re both just existing together instead of truly living as partners. I don’t even know when it started, this gradual shift that’s turned us into two people passing through life side by side without truly connecting. At first, I thought it was just a phase—maybe work stress or something else he was going through—but now, it feels like it’s more than that. There’s an emptiness in the way we move around each other, and I don’t know how to fill it.

I’ve tried to put in the effort. I’ve tried so hard to bring back the spark, to remind him of the woman he fell in love with. I’ve gotten dressed up, even though most days I feel like I’m wasting my time because he doesn’t even glance up from his phone or the TV. I’ve cooked his favorite meals, the ones I know he loves, and I’ve put my heart into every detail, hoping that maybe he’d see the effort, that it would spark something in him. But it never does. It’s as though I’m invisible to him. He doesn’t compliment me, doesn’t notice when I change my hairstyle or when I put extra care into something for him. It’s as if I’m just part of the background, something he no longer sees or appreciates.

The worst part is that I feel like I’m fading into the background of our own life. I’m here, I’m trying, but I feel unimportant in his eyes. And it hurts. I want to feel valued again, to feel like I matter to him in the same way I once did. But lately, every effort I make to reach out to him feels like it’s falling flat. When I try to talk to him about how I’m feeling, he just shrugs it off, saying he’s been busy or tired. But I know there’s more to it than that. I can feel the distance, and the more I try to bridge it, the wider it seems to grow.

It’s like we’re roommates, sharing a space but not a life. We don’t talk anymore—not really. We don’t share our thoughts, our dreams, or even the simple things that used to bring us closer. It’s become so easy for us to be silent together, to coexist without saying anything of real substance. We’ve stopped being a team, and it feels like I’m carrying all the weight of our relationship on my own. I feel like I’m walking a lonely road, and I’m starting to wonder if he even notices that I’m walking it.

The loneliness has crept in, not because he’s physically absent, but because emotionally, he’s a million miles away. I keep asking myself, Where did we go wrong? Why am I not enough for him anymore? And worse, I’m starting to wonder if I’m just not worth the effort anymore. I’m beginning to question if this is the way things will always be—me trying to bring him back, and him staying lost in his world. It’s exhausting, and I don’t know how much longer I can keep trying if I’m the only one putting in any effort. How do you fix a relationship that feels like it’s falling apart when the other person isn’t even willing to see it?