Hey guys, I’d just started a relationship with a new partner and she told me she has anxiety disorder. She tells me when she’s sad and it happens quite often — it’s mostly related to her previous partners. Her friends are still hanging out with her ex that abused her and now she’s staying away from those people but that also makes her sad. (Which makes me think that she’s not over how they made her feel.)

As an empath, I feel her sadness and I feel weak. I’m told that the help that I can give is just to be here and listen but sometimes I don’t know what to say when she’s texting me about it. I feel helpless because I usually have actionable steps for when I’m sad (like feeling grateful for what I have) but I know it’s not easy for her to do the same. It also takes a while for her to feel better. I’ve accepted the fact that I can’t really do anything else but to have passive support  but I just feel sad more often now because of this. I wouldn’t really feel sad often before. I guess that’s a different topic altogether. 

Would you guys have any tips for me? I wanna help however else I can.