Should I end things with younger lover?

Illustration/Uday Mohite

I am a 43-year old woman and have been in a relationship with a man who is almost 23 years younger than I am. We met at work and, even after I quit and joined another organisation, our relationship continued. It has been over two years now, and things are great. We don't want to marry or anything, because we are happy with the way things are. My question is about the future. I don't know what to expect because I know he may start to have a problem with this as I get older. He says it doesn't bother him at all, but I keep wondering how long it will last. Should I end this and avoid getting hurt a few years from now? Can a relationship like ours really work?
There are too many presumptions being made by you, about a relationship that sounds perfectly normal and healthy. Would you end a relationship that was going great with someone who happened to be the same age as you? If your boyfriend doesn't have a problem, why assume he does? If you want to end something just because you assume it won't work out in the future, isn't that true of every relationship you get into? Relationships fail only when the people in them don't work hard enough to make them succeed. Age has nothing to do with it and, if your boyfriend can see that and is doing everything he can to make this happen, there is no reason why you shouldn't either.

Is there a way of ending a relationship without hurting the other person too much? I want to break up with my girlfriend, but I know this will devastate her. How do I let her down easy?
You cannot end anything without causing pain, unless the other person is as uninterested in this relationship as you are. The more honest and direct you are, the lesser your chances of making this worse.

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