I'm really sorry if this is against the rules, but I also have this thread on the "breaking up" forum.

I have been dating my girlfriend for about 11 months. I am about to pick her up from the airport as she is returning from Japan. She has 2 years of school left, 2 hours from where I live (1 year younger than me) and I just graduated. I am looking for work, I don't want to marry anybody anytime soon, and I plan on traveling and working around the world. She claims to understand this but wants to maintain a long distance relationship for 8 years if she has to.

Things got intense between us because she is crazy about me and I suddenly found myself having strong feelings for her. But I feel guilty every single day because I know that this will not work and she will be destroyed when I dump her. Her strong emotions have paralyzed me because I'm scared of dumping her now, seeing her cry, and receiving her hatred when care so much about her.

I can't go on with this daily guilt, it's killing me. She is so excited to see me next week and I know that she bought me something. Should I break up with her then? Soon it will be our 1 year anniversary and she is thrilled about that, I feel nervous about lettings things intensify on her end even more from this anniversary.

I could help her unpack and whatever, then speak to her privately and end things but that seems so cruel considering how much she has been looking forward to this.

I'm paralyzed and time is making everything worse. She is so nice to me, and it just makes me feel worse.