It's definitely not easy, but it is not exactly hard either. Just different. Loving someone with anxiety requires more patience and a little extra time then loving someone without.
Patience.
Anxiety has a way of contorting what someone sees, what they hear, and what they feel. They can take a simple conversation and make it a huge obstacle. A dark raging sea of unknowing that is ready to swallow them up at their first attempt to venture and cross it. Just be patient. It might take a while for those sky high walls they have built to come down but don’t flustered. Just give them time to trust your actions as well as your words.
There will be bad days and there will be good days.
The bad days make you thankful for the good ones. Try to keep in mind it is not your fault that the person is feeling the way they are. It also is not really theirs either. Anxiety is frequently a blameless struggle. Please whatever you do, never make someone feel small for fighting this demon or make them feel ab-normal, sub-human. On the good days they need you on the bad days they need you. All you can do is match your actions to your words and do your best to love them just as they love you, selflessly.
Beware of unintentional belittling.
Never disregard what they feel. A lot of times when people are sick with mental illness or things of that realm we have a tendency to not really treat them like they are injure...but they are. Just because you can't see it doesn’t mean it isn't there. One of the hardest things to hear when you are stressed and panicked is "just calm down you're fine!" Wow, A+ , thank you so much I guess I never thought of it that way. Of course that thought entered my mind but it isn't as strong as the thoughts and feelings of fear and angst are stronger. Monstrously stronger and more controlling. When you love someone with anxiety you must also love their ability to challenge you and find the tiniest flaw with the plan for happiness. It just happens.
Just because someone is harder to love doesn’t make them impossible to love or less deserving of love. The heart wants what it wants and if your heart should find you loving someone fighting this battle, make sure to open it up and surround them with the love they need. The love they deserve.
