[Heavenguard]

I've been with my gentleman friend for about 3.5 months. (We got to know each other for 1.5 months prior to that.) I started dating him not only because I liked him, but because I could see a potential future with him (ie getting married, settle down, have kids). About 2 months into dating, he went away for a week, came back for a few days, then went away for a month again, and a lot of problems surfaced during that time that possibly otherwise could have taken months or years to come out.

Because of those problems (and probably also because we did not have a strong foundation to anchor us), I no longer believe in or see that future. We talked about our problems, and said we'd try to work on it, but I've ended up believing in everything even less now. The things he said he'd do to help fix things (from his end, I had a part too), he's failed to do when time came.

I want to end it, things being as they are - I don't want to waste his or my time, and I don't want to expend more emotions into it (and worse, I have negative ones as a result of it). On the other hand I feel like I should give it and him a chance.

Any thoughts, ideas, anecdotes to share about when one should keep on trucking, or how to recognize when to throw in the towel?