It’s not that I can’t. The problem is that when I’m with someone, I deeply yearn to be alone. I’d love to have my life for myself, with no responsibility with no one else - just me.
But then, when I’m alone, I feel like a failure, like I need a relationship to feel complete, and I fucking hate that. So I end up in another relationship, and after two years I can’t stand it anymore, and the cycle repeats.
What the hell. Has anyone suffered from something like that? How can you be alone and not feel lonely? How to kill this need to be with someone?
EDIT: Thanks for all the answers, I’m taking every single one into consideration. Please, keep them coming.
Give yourself some grace - I noted in my reply that my husband, coming out of an abusive relationship had the string of two years relationships but we are solid, twelve years now and it doesn’t feel like a long time. I had a different experience, though also was coming out of a relationship that had become physically abusive. There are things I have had to unlearn.
You say you are working with a therapist, that should help, but again, you aren’t broken. All of what you are feeling sounds normal.