Imagine standing in the middle of the road, seeing a truck head your way, while you stand there absolutely stuck and helpless, waiting for it to crush you under its wheels. Imagine feeling this way, all the time, every single day of your life. Now, imagine dating someone who feels this way constantly. Imagine dating someone who lives in a constant state of catastrophe, and doesn't quite know what really triggers it. This, my friend, is called anxiety and it can make the strongest person go weak in the knees, just by making its presence felt each passing day.

Dating someone who has anxiety isn't a walk in the park, to be very honest. There are a myriad ups and downs the person experiences every other moment and the only way to ease them out of the situation is to patiently calm them down. The triggers can be anything. From the biggest tragedy to the smallest fear. For example, when you're dating a person who suffers from anxiety, the smallest thing like you not answering her calls, while you're busy at work, can trigger an unfathomable range of emotions in her and make her feel anxious about the situation.

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An anxiety attack is not the same as a panic attack. Anxiety occurs due to a stressor. When the person faces an anxious situation, they usually identify the stressor that's provoked that reaction in them, whereas a panic attack is quite unpredictable and doesn't necessarily require a stressor to invoke a certain panic stricken reaction from you. So, identifying the difference between the two, while you're dating someone is fairly important because you might just inevitably become the stressor in her life, without knowing it and no it's not your fault at all.

Yes, it's difficult to be with someone who is constantly anxious. People who suffer from anxiety over think and overanalyse everything. They run a scenario in their head tumultuously, a number of times just to get the answers to everything, themselves.  For example, she may think about how your hug was different today than it was yesterday and beat herself silly over this simple thought or she may call to check on your whereabouts time and time again and ask you numerous times about when you'll be done with work. This is her not being insecure, this is her dealing with her anxiety and she knows it's troubling you.

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You will definitely figure it out when someone you're with is being insecure and unreasonable or genuinely going through a bout of anxiety. The symptoms are very clear and if she has anxiety concerning the relationship, she will definitely have anxiety regarding everything else too.

So we're going to try and help you understand how you can be around someone who has anxiety and goes through numerous anxiety attacks on a daily basis.

Understand What Anxiety Is

In order to deal with someone who is going through anxiety, you need to understand what anxiety is first. When your girlfriend or wife is experiencing an anxiety attack, open up a conversation and understand how their body is reacting to an attack, while understanding what is going through their mind.

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Keep A Check On Their Frequent Triggers

While there may be a different trigger that sets off in their head each day and gives them anxiety, there might be a pattern to the trigger points too. Understand what the common triggers are, causing her anxiety and help curb them for her. It could be bad traffic while she drives to work. You can insist on her taking a cab instead. It could be you not answering her calls or texts on time; you can let her know you are busy instead of ignoring her. Whatever her triggers are, identify them and understand why they give her anxiety.

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Be Calm When She Isn't

This is important for you to understand. After you know how her body and mind react to an anxiety attack, you have to be the calm one, calming her down. You can't raise your voice, even though she might be screaming, neither can you show callousness towards her through body language. You have to be ready and available when she's experiencing an attack and calm her down as much as you can. If physical touch helps her calm down, then definitely hold her close and give her a hug and keep talking to her through her rancid experience. Do not be abrasive!

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Have A Plan To Tackle The Situation In Hand

Whenever she's going through anxiety, have a plan in hand that will ease the situation for both you and her. It could be you sitting in silence and calming her down or you playing her favourite music to calm her down. If she wants you to leave the room, make sure you have an exit strategy sorted. When you figure her triggers out, don't do anything impulsive or spontaneous after. Make a plan and it will become easier to deal with, both for you and her.

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Never Take It Personally

Anxiety, more often than not, can manifest as anger and frustration and it can be taken out on someone anxious people are closest to. Never take her words or actions seriously when she's having an anxiety attack, it will only make things worse for you and you'll go down the rabbit hole, without even understanding where she's coming from. It's a tough thing to do but when she's experiencing anger, tell yourself it's temporary and constantly remind yourself that it's not aimed at you personally. The biggest challenge though is you thinking you can't fix the situation but with your determination and patience, the situation will heal on its own. 

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Urge Her To See A Therapist

If she's already not seeing someone to curb her anxiety, definitely take her for therapy yourself. A therapist will understand her anxiety a lot better than you ever will, even though you do everything in your power to help her. Professional help can make her deal with her anxiety a lot better, so get her help when she needs it.

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It's a tough ordeal to be stuck in and if you're with someone who has anxiety, don't give up on them and walk away. Instead understand what they're facing everyday and help them heal. Eventually, things will begin to look up for the both of you.