I'm having a hard time communicating with my ESTJ partner
I’m an INFJ and he’s an ESTJ. We’ve been together for over a year, and we genuinely love each other, but emotionally it’s been difficult for both of us. We end up fighting over small things constantly, and I think a lot of it comes from how differently we process emotions and communication.
I often feel like he avoids talking things through or having deeper conversations because he experiences them as pressure or conflict. He often tells me that I'm pushing him and "teaching" him whenever I try to have a discussion about our problems. Meanwhile, emotional depth and connection are really important to me, so I sometimes end up feeling emotionally unfulfilled. At times, I perceive him as lacking empathy or staying on a more surface level emotionally, even though I know he cares about me in his own way.
I don’t want to give up on the relationship because the love is there. I just want to understand how I can communicate with him better, approach conflicts in a healthier way, and create a space where an ESTJ partner feels safe enough to be more emotionally open and vulnerable with me. Please share with me your views as an ESTJ