great relationship but curious

[lux]

i'm 21 year old student and i've been dating my boyfriend for 7 years (since we were both in middle school or so) and we have had an amazing relationship thus far. we are rarely separated from each other and have never had any other serious relationships. we currently attend different universities and for the past year, we've been trying to make a long distance relationship work, though it's been quite challenging. while we generally struggle over many of the same issues, i feel as though my greatest struggle has been the lack of physical affection that i have grown so used to over the past several years with him. this need for physical affection has created a strange curiosity that i've never previously experienced before and/or simply ignored. at times, our reunions have been tense because we get into heated conversations about the logistics of "taking a break" because we both have doubts about having been in a relationship for so long (and since we've been so young... we are still very young). so the issues has been discussed, but we generally came to some kind of resolve and figured we were just being silly (because everything is going so great otherwise, why ruin it?). but usually after a month or so of separation, the curious and doubtful feelings come back and i find myself wishing there was some (very selfish) way to put a pause on our relationship and go test the waters a bit. it's a strange combination of knowing there is nothing better out there, but still feeling curious and wanting to cure this insatiable need for physical affection from another person. i'm almost completely certain i want to marry this boy, so why am i having these annoying thoughts of infidelity? should i ignore this and wait it out? or is there something important that i am missing out on in life?

i'm sure this sounds incredibly selfish but i thought i would ask for some advice before i took this dilemma to my boyfriend himself. this has been bothering me for quite some time and it would be nice to see if i'm even being logical about all of this! thanks alot!

[Primo]

What you're going through, the thoughts you're having, the curiousity, is very normal when high school sweethearts are together for a long time.

It's hard to force staying together or going apart when you're so young and have so little life experience. Try to go with your gut feeling, what you truly want to do and don't feel guilty about it.

[girl68]

You're probably not going to like what I have to say but

it's a strange combination of knowing there is nothing better out there

There was the one thing that struck me as odd. And that's it. I don't think you believe this deep down. I think you know that there could very well be but you're afraid to leave 7 years of good, long hard work. Which BTW I could totally understand.

I will tell you from personal experience that once the affection starts to lack and it's been discussed as a problem multiple times, nothing ever changes. I've seen this with my ex of 5 years and a bestfriends' guy of 5 years as well. Your situations sounds exactly the same.

And yes, you are missing out on things. You're missing the dating, the flirting, the disaster first dates, the good first dates, the "being single" all that- that's what you're missing. Weather or not you want to take the chance to leave to experience this is up to you. But I can promise a "break" isn't the way to go. You'd have to break UP.

And no, I don't think time is going to make you get over it, in fact I think time will do the opposite, it's going to intensify your dissatisfaction.