He may be very lonely right now and is reaching out to you because he wants to quell that loneliness.

Exes often get to points in their lives where they may be out of a relationship.

At some point during their time being single they may start getting lonely.

They begin to think about relationships that they have had in the past.

It is easier for them to think about you because you are part of their past.

He knows what you are about and what your personality is like. He is familiar with you.

It is easier going back to familiar territory.

We don’t have to put out a whole lot of effort to meet someone new and woo that person.

This is often why an ex can come back into your life even if you haven’t seen or heard from them in years.

What you do need to understand though is that he may not always have your best interests in mind.

He may be reaching out to you after 3 years for selfish reasons.

In other words, he may be lonely and realizes that the easiest route to quelling his loneliness would be to reach out to someone from his past.

He may not necessarily have any plans to be with that person long-term.

This may be a short-term fix for him.

He may be thinking that it is best to contact you now and try to get back with you while he tries to figure out what to do with his life and his relationship woes.

This is why it is so important that you don’t jump into a new relationship with him right away.

It can be easy to get caught up in the moment and perhaps even excited.

You may still love him. You may have never stopped loving him all these years.

Thereby, you may believe that he is being sincere and that he wants to be with you.

However, you really have to be sure of his motives.

The last thing you want is to allow yourself to get emotionally invested in another relationship with him only to have him dump you a few months later because he has found someone better.

Hence, you do need to avoid allowing your emotions and what you may want out of him to cloud your judgment.

Another reason why he may want you back after 3 years may be because he just figures that he can’t do any better.

He may have tried dating multiple people in the last 3 years and those dates may have gone nowhere.

He may have even gotten into a few actual relationships in the last 3 years that also went nowhere, leaving him feeling depressed and undesirable.

In other words, he may be coming back to you because he figures that you are the best he can do and he might as well accept that.

Thereby, you wouldn’t be his first choice.

You would simply be someone that he is settling with.

You don’t want to be that person.

It would make you repeatedly question your value in the relationship and this will consequently affect your sense of self-esteem as well as the viability of the relationship itself.

If he were only coming back to you in order to settle, he wouldn’t be willing to truly emotionally invest in you nor would he respect you.