How to support your girlfriend under stress? Can you help her overcome her fears, excessive worries, and anxiety issues? Can you be there for her when she needs you? Women are often labelled as drama-queen, someone who makes a big deal about everything, emotional and too vulnerable. Yes, we could be vulnerable but being stressed and anxious affects us differently and it affects people around us too.
For all the boyfriends, if you are reading this post, I will try my best to help you understand your girlfriend and towards the end of this blog, you will be able to find a few answers to the question, of how to support your girlfriend under stress.
How To Support Your Girlfriend Under Stress?
Dating someone with stress/anxiety/depression is itself a challenging task. It’s hard to see someone you love feeling so low when you are clueless about how to help them and lift their mood. Even if we cannot do anything there is one thing we can certainly do as a partner, we can at least not make things difficult for them.
It could be overwhelming at times and you might feel stuck as sometimes no matter what you do, it doesn’t work and doesn’t help her. So we can try to identify the trigger, the warning signs which will help us understand the mental state of our partner and act accordingly. Also, timely intervention can help them to overcome sooner.
Five signs your girlfriend is under stress
Sometimes there is a very thin line between understanding some situations which leads to a lot of doubts in one’s mind. For example, you might feel your girlfriend is being moody, throwing tantrums, acting out or ignoring you but she might be too stressed to think clearly and nothing is able to cheer her up. Unfortunately, the signs are quite similar and it gives a reason for your partner to doubt/question you which leads to more stress.
We often experience moments of extreme stress and look out for help and support around us. Strong support in the form of a mother, father, partner, friend, or even a child. So how to support your girlfriend under stress? It can be tough to struggle alone through difficult times and identifying warning signs could be the first step towards helping our loved ones.
| 1.) She has stopped decking up |
| 2.) She sounds fussy |
| 3.) She seems to be losing interest |
| 4.) She prefers isolation |
| 5.) Severe mood swings |
1.) She has stopped decking up
If you notice a sudden change in her behaviour like if she has stopped doing things she used to love, she gets bored easily and even she has stopped being her best then you need to take care. It is easy for a partner to identify a sudden change in behaviour because they are the ones who look at their partners very closely and know them inside out.
2.) She sounds fussy
How to support your girlfriend under stress when her sudden change in behaviour causes a lot of arguments between you two? It could be a natural outcome of the situation but we can choose to be observant first and then react. She might sound fussy and nag about things but if this is happening often than usual, you need to figure out what’s happening, and what is really bothering her before concluding her as someone who is acting out.
3.) She seems to be losing interest
There’s a very thin line to be identified between losing interest and being stressed, usually, the symptoms are the same and at times when your girlfriend who is under stress and needs help might be confused with someone who is losing interest in you and you may go over the board to blame her for everything bad happening in your relationship. May she is losing interest in everything around her, nothing sparks joy in her life and she needs to be held.
4.) She prefers isolation
Because of the fear of getting judged and labelled, this is the most prominent sign. A person starts withdrawing and cutting social ties, they feel they don’t belong to the place and find it difficult to join the daily conversation. They feel dejected and prefer to stay alone, they don’t feel comfortable in social gatherings and public events. You might feel annoyed with this behavior of hers but maybe she is not able to help herself.
5.) Severe mood swings
I am sure you must be handling her PMS mood swings and now when you deal with her stressed mood it could be quite stressful for you too. Some days she could be nice to you and some days she could be completely off the hook and sound completely indifferent. You might feel disturbed by her behavior but still, you have to be there for her if you see some warning signs.
Ten ways to help your girlfriend fight stress
You are bound to get frustrated and irritated with her and trust me this is very normal to happen in such a situation where you don’t know how to help your girlfriend under stress and save your relationship some sanity. But knowing that you still love her and that you want to support her is a good sign. Whenever you lose control you let her know you’re upset with the situation and not with her and together you are going to fix this.
Sometimes there could be a very valid reason behind the stress and sometimes there could be no reason at all. How to fight stress and remain calm? I am not a therapist, but I want to help and I will share ten handy ways based on my personal experiences and the life experiences of others around me, I hope you find these useful. You can either direct your partner to these practices or persuade her to join a few of such practices with you.
1.) Make her feel calm
According to researchers, meditation is the number one most effective form of stress buster. Meditation can be practised for as few as 10 minutes each day, it can help you control stress, decrease anxiety, improve cardiovascular health, and achieve a greater capacity for relaxation.
2.) Indulge in physical activities
Exercise/Trekking/Climbing/Swimming is very good at defusing stress, it is just that the first step to adapting any form of exercise into our lifestyle is the biggest challenge for one. With proper and regular exercise, you burn off stress hormones instead of letting them pile up and cause pressure.
3.) Help her set realistic goals
We set a lot of goals every day and expect a lot from ourselves, career goals, relationship goals, sometimes we do it to please others, impress others and overlook our own capacity to meet the set target, it is always advisable to set realistic goals knowing your capacities, you will be slow but you will be 100 % successful in accomplishing your goals this way.
4.) Help her stay realistic
Never make her feel bad about the situation. Help her stay realistic. Expectations hurt, yes it does, brutally. This is one of the biggest life lessons I have learned. We expect so many things from our spouse, parents, siblings, friends, and kids that we unknowingly depend upon them for our happiness and when they don’t do things as we expect them to do, we feel bad, we feel agitated and stressed. Get rid of your expectations and free yourself.
5.) Seek professional help
How to support your girlfriend under stress? It is absolutely ok if you are unable to figure out what is causing stress to your partner, but if you feel there is something to be worried about you can seek help. You can always seek help from a professional if you are on the verge of burnout or you are feeling too dark and distressed. Sometimes we take things casually but it takes the shape of a bigger picture in the long run which does more harm than we could have imagined.
6.) Inhale Exhale together
Inhale possibility and exhale toxicity. Connect with yourself. Go for a walk alone, play your favourite music, grab those headphones, and go for a nature walk. While you listen to music and breathe with yourself amidst nature, you will feel lighter and more energized than before.
7.) Binge-watch and pizza party
Choose Netflix, Amazon Prime, or any web streaming service of your choice pick up a series of your choice, and watch it. You will have something to look forward and it will keep you distracted, I would not suggest you binge-watch though but it will be a pleasant getaway to watch something new with your favourite food to munch on.
8.) Sleep on it
Sleeping is the best escapade. I mostly sleep when I feel stressed or when I find myself tired, we usually stretch ourselves like we use our cell phone till that last one per cent of battery is left and then we feel overused and exhausted. Sleep helps you restore your balance and helps you repair.
9.) Travel together
Do you know her travel bucket list? Have you ever taken a heritage walk in your own city? There has to be something unique and special about your place, just grab your phone, camera, water, and some food and take a day-long solo tour of your city. Admire beautiful places and discover new facts about your city or plan a mini-vacation to some peaceful place.
10.) Detox
Detox or detach, take a break from your daily routine. It works like a wonder. When nothing seems to be working, just switch off for a while, take social media detox, be less accessible, in short stay away from things that cause you stress and take time to repair or heal. How to support your girlfriend under stress? Ask her to detox. It is absolutely alright to give yourself a guilt-free break, it is only for your own good.
All the above-mentioned points are just a reminder, that we should never stop loving a person just because it has become a little difficult to manage between the two, rather try to help them fix the situation. Sometimes things are situational and temporary but due to the negligence and insensitivity of the other partner, we lose a beautiful relationship. Please nurture your bond while it is there. Just try to be a source of relief for your partner and be there with them.
If you are reading this blog, it shows you care for your girlfriend you are in love with her and most importantly you want to fix things up. If you just landed up on this blog just take away something from the above-mentioned points to help your friends so that when in distress they don’t have to worry about how to support your girlfriend under stress. You guys can be an awesome story of love and how you never gave up on each other by simply being there and holding on in tough times. Have a beautiful life.
Love and Light!
Priyanka
One Response
Great post! I definitely needed to read this today after my girlfriend had a meltdown last night. I was completely clueless on how to help her. This article gave me so many valuable tips on how to support her, especially the one about active listening. I’m going to try them out tonight and see if I can help her feel better.