A little background on the situation. I see a lady from my hometown that is about 2 hours away. We've done this for basically a year or so. I'm currently in school for an engineering program, have a job, and also do a research position. I'm finding that as my own personal priorities increase with work, health, personal time, etc., I'm just really becoming a lot less interested in seeing this woman and investing such a large amount of time.

The problem is that while she is a wonderfully nice lady, no shit tests, or anything like that, I tried discussing the issue with her, to potentially leave, and tried to show her the issue wasn't "her", but rather life playing out in two different directions, and I just haven't the time to invest in such a long distance relationship. However, it's kind of backfired, and I'm genuinely concerned for her safety. For the past five days, she's been extremely sad, crying, and to be frank, I'm concerned if I really do leave, she will absolutely hurt herself.

My questions are: am I at fault for feeling this way? Should I just find the time for her? How could I leave safely, as well as do it without her hurting her own self? I'm not very old (just turned 22), so I haven't had extreme life experience with dating a wide range of women, and don't particularly know how to properly handle this in a safe, mature manner.

Thanks for the help, everyone!