I count myself lucky that I have rarely ever experienced anxiety, even in a short-term sense. Recently, however, I have found myself feeling generally helpless and stressed, especially when I think about money and my relationship. I work six days a week on top of going to school and participating in extracurriculars, so I know I'm doing just about everything that I can do as a full-time college student when it comes to making money. Yet I still find my heart racing and my stomach churning anytime I have to make a purchase over $5, even if it's as essential as something like textbooks or basic groceries like a bottle of laundry detergent.

I also fear that my girlfriend will fall out of love with me. She comes from a relatively wealthy background (at least a lot more so than mine). For context, her dad and grandfather are cardiologists, her uncle is an executive on Wall Street, and her mom is a financial manager and does real estate seasonally. So yeah, very different standards of living. Every time we go out these days, I find it hard to breathe when we have to pay because either my bank account is gonna take a huge hit or I have to take her somewhere cheap. I know she doesn't care where we go, but it's hard not to think about when you're the poor guy who buys store brand products trying to impress the rich girl who owns a boat. Did I forget to mention that she's absolutely gorgeous and out of my league? Breathtaking to the point that strangers will approach us in public to tell her how pretty she is, and friends of mine will blatantly tell me that she is settling by being with me. I know she loves me, but it's impossible not to feel anxious about the future of our relationship when she's going abroad for all of the next school year (which involves us not seeing each other for two four-month stretches) and has a phone full of other guys trying to get with her.

Normally I feel like I can tell her anything, but she knows me as someone who is very carefree and frankly the opposite of anxious, which I know she values a lot because she is the same way. I know that she'll say the right thing and do her best to reassure me if I bring any of this up to her, but I can't bring myself to do it out of worry that it'll overwhelm her or give her the "ick." But this feeling is killing me. I can't sleep most nights because of the pit in my stomach and the shortness of breath I get when I think about letting her down or not being able to do things for her. Even just writing this helped a lot, but I would appreciate any advice on how to start that conversation or cope without bringing it up to her.