The whole point of dateing is to get to know all kinds of people and personalities and experience different relationships. If this is your first boyfriend then it doesn't matter what he is doing wrong or right. It is about what you are doing. You would be making a life altering decision based on partial information. You don't really know what kind of personality is compatible with yours. Every relationship requires sacrifice and committment and work. A relationship should not require sacrificing your individuality and should not feel like you are committing too much of your time to it. Additionally if you have to work on a relationship it should not feel like a chore. My honest opinion is that I hear you saying almost 85% negative things about this relationship. I hear you saying you feel it is too one sided emotionally. I hear you expressing self doubt brought on by his criticism. I hear you comparing your ability to show affection to his and assuming you are somehow lacking. I hear you recognizing the major diffenences in several aspects of your personalities. I believe your friend thinks he is in love with you but perhaps he is more in love with the idea of being in love. You sound very level headed and sensible. There is nothing wrong with letting your brain guide your heart. Everything I hear you say tells me that your friend is letting his heart guide his brain. It sounds like you are emotionally more mature than he is and this gap may only widen as you both grow older and your emotional interests change. They say that women are about five to seven years older emotionally than a man her same age. By the age of twenty one, a women's desires in a potential mate change. You will not be attracted on a physical or emotional level to the same person at 18 as you will be at 21 or as you will be at 27 or 35. If you pick someone who does not have the experience to know how to treat a women as she desires, you may come to regret it. After all, you are still learning what those desires are. If you ever have the pleasure of meeting a man who has mastered this, you will forever regret making a hasty decision. There is a big difference between a man and a boy and it is not always years. I believe you know in your heart what to do, listen to your instincts they sound very good to me.
