Recently my (22m) girlfriend (21f) and her family invited me over for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This will be my first time meeting them as my girlfriend and I have been long distance for over a year, and since COVID-19 halted our plans to live together. I suffer from anxiety (both general and social) and this situation has caused my anxiety to max out to the point of panic attacks. Currently, I’m unemployed and I have never gone to college. Due to a range of family matters, in addition to my own personal challenges, I was unable to pursue either in the early stages of adulthood. I’m terrified, petrified, absolutely mortified at the thought of potentially being asked ANYTHING about myself in regards to my future. I’ve never had a single interaction with either parent, so I only have reputation to go off of. It doesn’t help that a host of factors including, but not limited to: meeting them for the first time on a holiday, staying 2 nights in their home, feeling like I’m intruding on a family holiday (even tho they offered). My girlfriend is very much accomplished. She goes to a good school, she excels academically, she’s very well put together. She once told me a story of how her father wanted her to marry a doctor. I am no doctor. This is the biggest fear by far, but the smaller ones are mounting as well. What to do in specific situations when I’m there, how to make sure I don’t offend/insult/inconvenience anyone, etc. This is very important to me. I know I wouldn’t be able to cope if I didn’t go and if I didn’t take this opportunity. This is what I fight everyday for, and so does my girlfriend. So not going is not an option. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I’m kind of freaking out. 

Have a safe and happy holiday! 




I want to say that this is my first post on Reddit, so I apologize if this is not the appropriate forum for my story. I’ll likely have this posted in other subreddits as well. Thank you again!