TL:DR - thinking of breaking up with my gf of 4 years because of value and personality mismatch, feeling emotionally distant from her, and not wanting to be 'tied-down' or committed to her. Also not sure if she could handle being the mother of my children.   Hey everyone, I'm posting this here just because this has been on my mind for a long time and I would really appreciate the advice from someone who has experienced this. I have been dating my gf for around 3.5 years and over this time we have had many experiences together. She is my first long term partner and I met her at 20. She is a year older. Over time we have both grown in positive ways, but I have to say that my progress has been significantly quicker than hers. She has a background of being raised by an abusive and cold grandmother who would constantly belittle her. Consequently, she has episodes of depression and anxiety. At one point, during a difficult academic year for her she slipped into suicidal thinking and more frequent episodes of depression, sometimes also coming home and having panic attacks. This was about 1.5 years ago and I felt the need to be her rock. Unfortunately, I did all the emotional caring for her at this time and she was not seeing a councillor nor taking any medications. I felt way out of depth here, especially with her being suicidal on a weekly basis, but in my infinite wisdom I didn't tell anyone else or seek help for my psychological health, I just decided to solve this on my own. She is better now and is studying towards a PhD, but I have felt very distant from her emotionally since her difficult year. I feel like this was a defence mechanism from me to prevent myself slipping into depression. That coupled with my spiritual growth as well as her less frequent by still persistent anxiety and low self esteem make me feel more distant - I feel like I'm walking on eggshells around her. She has low self-esteem and low confidence from her upbringing and while this has improved over time with meditation and exercise, because I have been meditating for longer and more frequently, our growth has been asymmetrical. I don't mean to sound arrogant but the emotional blocks and problems she is dealing with now, I have dealt with and overcome a few years ago, and this sets up a very weird dynamic, where I feel like I am a parent talking to a teenager (she is a beautiful person, I don't mean to belittle her, this is just how it feels). Because this is my first relationship, I feel like it can be so much better. I have tried exposing her to meditation and other exercises, but I feel she doesn't see the urgency or importance of them, she knows a lot about her condition because her PhD is in psych but there is little implementation and transfer of her knowledge to her well-being. I've learned that It's not up to me for her to change, its up to her.  I see how other girls are more confident and it makes me regret getting into this relationship, especially at such a young age. I also regret losing touch with my friends because of having solely cared for her and withdrawing from my work and other commitments. I am feeling trapped and have been considering breaking up for 2 years. But it has taken me this long to build up the confidence to admit that to myself, previously i just thought that everything would be fine, but its not fine and I've not been true to myself in terms of how I feel.  There have been two times where we were on the brink of breaking up, and my instinct was shouting "BREAK UP" but I think i was scared to admit that to myself and just decided to continue and hope that things would get better. I admit that that was my lack of courage and low self-esteem at the time. But its getting to the point where i am considering my future more seriously and thinking about marriage and children in the future. If I'm being honest, I don't really want to marry her or move in with her, and I don't like the idea of her being a mother with her emotional state. I also plan to be a surgeon and am looking for someone who is confident with solving problems and being comfortable in their own skin, which she is not. She frequently needs validation from me, and asks me what she should do in terms of career and interacting with other people. She also has a poor relationship with her parents where there is little emotionality or warmth, her parents also don't speak english and i have not met them yet as I understand the parents are racist and only want an asian guy for her, which tbh I cannot be bothered dealing with. I don't care enough to kiss their asses, mostly because I know that they damaged her with poor parenting. I have recently discussed with her the idea of self-love and self-acceptance after she had a moment of insecurity. I discussed how the universe accepts her exactly as she is and that to move through her pain she needs to see that it is ok to be herself (which is antagonistic to what she experienced in her upbringing). These insights i gained from a trip and have immensely helped me be more accepting of myself and helped me accept that I'm not happy in this relationship, and haven't been for a few years. I noticed that I see song lyrics and messages about breaking up a lot, which means its on my mind. I feel guilty for wanting to break up because I know how painful it will be for her and I still love her and don't want to hurt her. But I recently watched a video where the main point was that if you don't break up with someone you don't want to be with, you will become unkind and resentful the more time you spend with them, and you will subconsciously make them know that you don't love them even if you get married and stay together for many years. And I don't want to do that to her. Also she is 24 and I don't want to drag this out and break up when she is older and has fewer dating opportunities. I'm currently doing long distance with her and she is a 5h drive away. I plan to see her every 3 weeks but this distance has helped me figure out what is true to me. I guess I'm just posting here because I feel afraid of making the wrong choice and also hurting her. I don't know if I'm being selfish but the longer I stay in this relationship the more resentful I get and I've recently started thinking about breaking up as I try to fall asleep at night. Anyway, I think that's all I wanted to say for now. Thank you for reading and I hope anyone who has gone through a breakup could have some advice.