I really feel for you. It’s always so difficult when you have an uncomfortable conversation with your partner – but I do believe they are necessary every now and again so you can reaffirm your connection and understanding for each other. Your partner probably won’t have made a snap decision. He’ll either have been thinking things over for a while, or he’s just feeling really down because part of his identity (his work) has failed, which can make everything seem bleak.

A few years ago, my partner and I were travelling around the States for five weeks, and halfway through we had a very similar conversation where he said he wasn’t sure where things were going and what he wanted for us in the future. But then we agreed to wait until we came back to Australia before we re-evaluated, and everything returned to normal once we were home. I put that episode down to the tough year we had just lived overseas. So your partner’s uncertainty could be highly influenced by his current work troubles.

I guess you could say to him that you feel you work well as a couple and you’re willing to help him get through this difficult time. But make sure he doesn’t use this as an excuse to take his frustrations out on you. You both need to make the effort, and if you feel he’s not (you might want to mentally set a time limit for your expectations), you could reconsider the situation then.

Good luck. These conversations aren’t fun even when they have a good outcome, but just know that you will have more clarity at the end, and that’s preferable to not knowing where you stand 🙂