Update: I (26m) think I am ready to break up with my girlfriend (28f) of 2.5 years

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EDIT: Okay wow this blew up. Thank you to everyone who has taken time to comment and write shared experiences. I wanted to address a few things. I didn?t break up with her on her birthday. As I say below ?I told her on Facetime prior that I wanted to move on, and then asked if she still wanted to see me.? The Facetime call was about 4 days before her birthday. Of course I did not want to break up with her on her birthday? I also didn?t want to go celebrate her birthday and pretend like everything was okay knowing I was going to end things when we said goodbye. I know it wasn?t perfect timing.
EDIT 2: A lot of comments asked WHY. I realize now I never really said why other than that it was how I felt (not feeling I could marry her). If anyone is curious/ comes back to this post, I wanted to provide at least a little detail so it didn?t seem so vague. One part of it has been conversations with my own family. They have seen us together many times, and while they think she is an amazing girl, they haven?t seen me as excited about her as they would expect, or even as excited as I had been in past relationships. Our relationship was always just easy/comfortable, but it wasn?t necessarily a relationship that challenged me to be my best self. And I think my family saw that. Two, she lives in a different state near her family, and my family lives in a different state from both of us. So for a long time it just hasn?t made sense where we would end up if we stayed together. One of us (or both of us) would have to compromise not being close to family, and I know she wants that for herself. There are some other more minor reasons, but those two were probably what led to my decision most.
My original post didn?t get much attention but wanted to write an update. Thanks to everyone who commented there.
This has been so much harder than I thought it would be. I feel so fragile and heartbroken.
Before I traveled to see her this week, I decided it was best to let her know prior on Facetime my intentions to move on. I asked her if she still wanted me to travel and she said yes- which I was happy about. The Facetime call was really hard but saying goodbye in person was 10x harder.
We spent about two days together, one of which was her birthday. It was just the two of us the whole time. Our time was a combination of doing normal things together and then talking/crying/comforting each other.
She was so understanding. So much that it really made me question my decision, because she just further proved she is a wonderful person.
Saying goodbye to her felt impossible? I?ve never cried so much in my life. I tried to walk away and couldn?t.
To tie things back to my first post? I am glad I went to see her. I think both of us needed to see each other in person and it brought a sense of closure to the relationship.
But as I type this, I can?t say I have clarity. I really just miss her.
I have to trust myself that my decision was right, that I couldn?t see myself marrying her. I know she deserves to find that, and it was killing me to feel like I was just in the way and not able to provide it. It will be extremely hard to move on, but I know we can.
TL;DR: Broke up over Facetime, but still traveled to see her. Saying goodbye was heartbreaking.


Source.