It takes time for them to fall in love.
It takes them longer than the average person to fall in love because their anxiety makes them incredibly cautious. Their anxiety tells them that no sane person would ever fall in love with them, and sometimes anxiety can dominate their own thoughts.
They are on their guard.
They protect their heart as if it could be taken away from them at any moment. They have been hurt before and their anxiety makes them fear that the person they care about will end up hurting them.
They do not trust from the start.
It takes time for them to open up to the person they fall in love with. Why does it take time? Because their anxiety gives them reason to feel paranoid, even if there is no reason to be. They want to trust them, but it really takes a long time for that trust to begin.
Sometimes, even if they feel love, they cannot express it out loud.
Saying “I love you” is important to them. They only say it if they are 110% comfortable with that person. Even then, it is a scary and vulnerable time for them.
Sometimes they don’t know anything about the future together.
They hate talking about the future because their anxiety can’t handle it. Anxiety worries them about what they will do tomorrow and they cannot physically and emotionally embark on predicting a future that is too far in the future. They try to ignore the subject as much as possible.
They are sometimes perceived as impolite.
Sometimes they say rude things or completely ignore the person they love the most because they want to see if he or she will leave. This is their way of testing their love, no matter how crazy it may seem.
They drift away.
With anxiety comes a need to be alone and to isolate themselves. When they fall in love, this need is more urgent because their anxiety is usually very high.
They fear the worst.
No matter how happy they are in the relationship, their anxiety makes them think it’s a joke. Anxiety makes them fear that it will all end. Anxiety tells them that love isn’t even real or true and that the person they love the most will leave and never come back.
They don’t understand why someone loves them back.
They really don’t understand why or how a person can love them. With anxiety comes a lot of hard times and baggage and they can’t understand why a person stays with them. This can cause a lot of tension in the relationship because all a person has to do is convince them that they love them.
First dates are their nightmares.
Even starting to date is a struggle for them. First dates are extremely anxious events for them because they come with thousands of horrible scenarios in their heads before the date even begins.
They become incredibly attached.
Once they are engaged in a relationship, they become attached and sticky. Why is this? Because their anxiety tells them that the relationship is temporary. So they hold on to that person’s feelings as hard as they can. When they fall in love, it’s not just halfway and the end is one of the worst things that can happen to them.
