Submitted by ThrowRA_Local3933 t3_11dl24d in relationship_advice
My boyfriend has always been hesitant about me going out with my friends and drinking on the weekends. We currently are doing long distance where he is home working and I am away at school. He has had many traumatic experiences drinking and expresses that he feels uncomfortable and anxious when I go out with my friends to drink. I am a senior in college and will not have this experience again after I graduate in 3 months. I tried explaining that it's my last couple months at school with my friends and I want to enjoy the couple nights I have left with them. He gets very upset and somewhat mad at me when I still go out despite him expressing that he would rather me not and stay in on FaceTime with him. Yet we talk on the phone almost every weekday. All I ask is to spend time with my friends Friday and Saturday nights. I told him I wish he supported my social life and how these experiences improve my overall well-being. It is also hypocritical as when we first started talking, we almost always went out drinking. Am I out of line for what I am asking for?
gordonf23 t1_ja9d3he wrote
You want to go out drinnking with your friends. He doesn't want you to go out drinking with your friends. There's a very simple solution to this problem: Go out drinking with your friends.
He doesn't get to dictate your behavior. He doesn't get to tell you who you're allowed to spend time with or how you spend that time. I don't understand why you would even begin to entertain the idea that he gets to control you like this.
"Honey, we've had this conversation several times, and I understand how you feel. However, these are my friends, this is my last semester of college, and I want to go out drinking with them, so that's what I'm going to do. It clearly bothers you, so we're just not going to talk about this anymore, because I refuse to let you make me feel bad for living a normal life. That's my decision. If you have a problem with that, then you should probably find a different girlfriend."