Do you two communicate? Share yourselves (emotions, dreams, fears, fun stuff like that)? Love's more than just butterflies and roses. If it's not there though, just end it. Nothing's worse than dragging things out just to finally end it.

it's unusual for a relationship to burn out that early.

If you've lost the spark only 5 months in, it's probably not coming back.

Was your previous relationship infatuation or actual love? Infatuation is that "oh I can't not go without seeing him or talking ot him every hour" crap. Love encompasses a lot more...

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?" Ghandi

I don't think that all good relationships come from that "omg I'll die if I can't see him every day" kind of feeling. That's not love - it's infatuation - and in my experience, it's not an indicator at all about how good the actual relationship will be in a year. In fact most of the solid relationships that I know started out slowly and then grew deeper over time.

Do you really like spending time with him? Are you sexually attracted to him? Do you laugh together? Get along? Do you trust him, can you communicate? Do you respect eachother?

If the answer is yes to all those questions I'd hesitate to throw this relationship out because you never got butterflies...

I did that once. Horrible mistake. If you have questions now, imagine how it will be in 10 years. If you miss the butterfly feelings already, imagine what it will be in 20 years. If there is no sexual passion, imagine what it will be like... next year.

I would kindly and politely end it - but certainly not regretfully.

imo, butterflies and sexual passion are two very differnt things. To me, the former is not important but the latter is. I guess it comes down to a personal decision. What matters most to you in a relationship?

This is really interesting. Your asking us to put our fingers on something really intangible and difficult to explain. Your asking is this love? What is love? What is lust? What is friendship? This is part of the mysteries of dating and partnerships. That butterfly thing is hard to explain. It's only in the beginning, no matter who it is. Part of it is sexual attraction, then I think another part of it comes from the idea of someone who meets or supercedes your ideas of a good catch. It's nice to feel it, but sometimes you have to make a judgment call on whether or not this is really the only way to your heart. On the other hand just because he's sweet and cute doesn't mean you have to like the guy. It's not that he'd doing anything wrong, just not doing what you need that's all. It's lacking. Nothing more, nothing less. It seems here there is something lacking. Sometimes in that space there are no butterflies.