You meet someone. They're attractive, charming, charismatic. You feel this incredible spark and chemistry. You get butterflies when you're around them, and every text from them lights you up. 

You're so excited that you want to spend every waking moment with them. You miss them when you're apart, and can't stop thinking about them. You send them lots of messages and daydream about all the nice things you could do for them to show them how much you care. 

You find yourself picturing a future with them. Telling yourself that they're "the one".

It all seems so perfect, until... something shifts. 

They start to act differently. They're not available as much, and aren't putting in as much effort to see you or speak to you. You ask them if everything's okay, but their responses are vague and distant. 

You start to wonder what happened. Whether you did something to upset them. You feel sick to your stomach, and panicked. So you try to figure out what's going on by messaging more, showing love, reaching out for connection - but all you get is more withdrawal. 

They say they need space, which sends you spiralling into a full-blown meltdown. 

You find yourself consumed with anxiety, overthinking, micro-analysing. Trying to figure out where it all went wrong. You wonder whether there's someone else in the picture - an ex, a colleague, a close friend. You scroll back and re-read all your past messages. You trawl through their social accounts, looking for clues. 

Before long, you can't focus, you can't eat, you can't sleep. You don't have the mental energy to see other friends, or do the things you usually enjoy doing. 

The only thing you care about is getting things back to the way they were. But everything you're trying seems to have the opposite effect.