Recently, I have noticed the same theme in conversations with female friends. Many are in committed relationships, some for seven years or more. They do not express a desire to leave their partners. They do not describe a lack of love. What they say instead is something softer, more nuanced:

“I just want space.”

They describe feeling overwhelmed when their partner asks for physical affection, quality time, or emotional closeness. Not because those requests are unreasonable, but because they feel they have nothing left to give. What can look like withdrawal from love in fact often seems more like emotional exhaustion.

With my own experiences of balancing a demanding career and grieving the recent loss of my grandfather, I find myself observing from the side. From that vantage point, a different question arises—not what is wrong with women, but what is happening in the world that has made loving relationships feel so hard?

Human beings are wired for connection. Intimacy can be one of the richest sources of support and satisfaction in life. But it also requires emotional resources. When daily life demands too much energy, the capacity left over for closeness shrinks.

Recent research describes the concept of relationship burnout, where partners become emotionally depleted by ongoing demands and experiences of stress within the relationship (Thompson et al., 2025). When emotional resources run low, even........

© Psychology Today