So, my girlfriend has a huge habit of pushing herself past her limits both physically and mentally- and she will do so no matter what anyone does in attempt to prevent it.

This affects just about everything between us drastically, and shes been significantly worse about it as of recently. She pushes herself too hard at work, neglecting the fact she has a whole team of people to lean on despite their efforts to remind her of such. She also pushes herself in her personal life, waking up 3 hours early for work every day just so she can do chores when nobody else is up so by the time she gets to work she’s already partly burnt out.

Even between us and our shared hobbies, as we are both very committed artists, she forces herself very hard to make art to the point she will begin to hate everything she makes and envy anything someone else does, me included. And now it’s to the point I know that every time she’s present and enjoying art and creating things with me- it’s just a ticking time bomb until she’s upset and hates it again. This hurts more because a lot of art I make is of her characters and I put very big effort into it only for her to sporadically decide she doesn’t want anyone making stuff of them anymore for no given reason.

She thinks everyone is constantly questioning her at work, at home, and in the span of our relationship never once have I seen her not criticize herself with an appalling and saddening amount of scrutiny. She cannot even walk in the store without stopping in front of every mirror we go past only to judge herself and then claim she’s too fat and old to be with me.

I’ve tried so hard to be supportive and dissuade these thoughts but I think she is genuinely at a point that nothing I do or say has any impact and it’s only a matter of time till she has a meltdown and tries to convince me to break up with her again for some random things she’s chose to fixate on. I love and adore her so much, she’s my world, but it hurts knowing she doesn’t love anything about herself or what she does.

I know exactly why she thinks this way and all her trauma associated with it, but it still doesn’t make the feelings easier to deal with. I’m sorry if I sound like I’m making her issues my own, but I’m at such an utter loss what to do for her at this point. All I want is to ease her mind and see her smile and enjoy her art, shopping, and her job.