A few weeks ago, my girlfriend confessed that she had kissed another guy at a party. She said it was just some mild flirtation and immediately asked me to forgive her. This has never happened before, and I believe her when she says she has always been faithful to me. Since that incident, however, it feels as if I look at her somewhat differently. On the surface, we get along like before and everything seems normal, but a part of my brain is warning me to pull back and not invest too much in this relationship. I know this is unreasonable, but I can’t seem to help myself. She doesn’t know this is going on in my head and I feel as if I may break up with her. It doesn’t make sense to me. What should I do?
You are dealing with the aftermath of something that caused you pain, and the thing to do is acknowledge it and accept that you are still processing what happened despite your declarations of forgiveness. You will not be able to move past it until your forgiveness is unconditional, and it is important to keep talking about this with your girlfriend because that will allow you to make sense of your feelings a little better. If you don’t want this relationship to end, and want her in your life, you will have to sit with your feelings and confront them. Ask for time if you need it but tell her what’s going on.

Every time I get close to my boyfriend, he seems to get nervous and pull away as if he is afraid of revealing too much about himself. How do we get past this if our relationship is to evolve into something stronger and more stable?
This may be a question of patience and being open to the possibility that your boyfriend isn’t at the same place in this relationship as you are. Tell him you’re prepared to wait and allow him to open up when he’s ready.