Girls, Please help me understand what she's thinking and feeling?

[JohnnyDiamond]

So I met a woman when we both lived abroad, and we were just friends. She moved back to Canada and I moved back to England and we reconnected. for the past 5 months we have talked every day through texts and voicenotes and she always sends loads.

we have had some pretty solid serious chats and we both know each other better than anyone has ever known either of us. she had a pretty rough childhood and has opened up to me about that she definatley has rejection and neglect issues not feeling important or valid in the past.

She has told her friends about how much we chat and they've asked about me on occasion. Anway She had sent me a few messages which made me think she was up for taking it to the next level, so one day she send me this voicenote saying I was on her mind and she wanted me to know that she appreciated me and was so glad I was in her life etc.

I responded and said she has a safe space in me and basically told her how I feel about her without mentioning Love. I said she has a safe space in me and genuine stuff that I meant.

she responded with an actual video, the first one she'd sent, she'd been crying and said she wanted to work out how to respond but that it was all good. so I gave her time cos she was busy a couple of weekends and its been 4 weeks and she never said anything in fact its like its gone back in progress two months.

so even though we still speak in depth and share with each other and send funny or meaningful IGs and TikToks I really don't understand this mixed signal. Like yes I want it but she instigated that and then pulled back. Like she now also starts her messages off with hey my friend. But friends definitely don't invest THIS much time in each other so I'm confused. thanks for your insights

[SueShe]

My feeling is that because of her complicated past and lack of attention or possibly even love from anyone, possibly even from her parents and siblings, she is now very insecure about how to react to someone that openly gave her the care she had been missing all that time.

It can be daunting to be faced suddenly to those feelings that she lacked growing up and she does not know well how to handle them. She is also afraid to commit because she is also scared that she may be rejected later in life if she opens up too much. Nobody wants to be hurt. She fears that her world may collapse if she totally opens up to you and later finds out that it may not last.

Long distance relationships do seldom work over time and she is aware of that fact. That is also causing her discomfort. By calling you "friend", she attempts to keep the necessary distance until she is certain not to make a serious mistake by allowing you further in her life.