This Man Made His Fiancée An "Anxiety Chair” & Now I Need One Too
Sometimes you just need a little grown-up time-out.
As an anxious person, it can be hard to feel supported in a relationship. That’s why it was so heartwarming to see one man take the time and energy to help his fiancée through wedding-planning stress, with a creative solution inspired by Pixar’s Inside Out 2.
In a Tiktok, which has since reached almost 1 million views, Debra Reisinger’s fiancé, Ryan Erkins, created a calming space to help her reset.
As Disney cinephiles know, Inside Out 2 introduces a new emotion to our main protagonist, Rylie’s brain: Anxiety, in all of her wacky, orange glory.
In the film, the other emotions help Anxiety calm down from a panic attack by having her sit down in a comfy chair with a hot cup of tea.
“Whenever you start to feel here, it's becoming too much,” said Ryan, pointing to a poster he made featuring a still from the movie of Anxiety panicking.
“I need you to come sit in here, light the candle with a drink, it’s your favorite color rose, and just relax for like 10 minutes,” he continued.
Debra is visibly touched by the kind gesture, immediately relaxing into the chair.
In the video, Ryan leaves the room, setting a timer for eight minutes.
“You aren’t allowed to leave until the timer’s up,” he said, kindly but firmly.
The comment section collectively swooned over Ryan’s thoughtful gesture.
“If there was a green flag, I’d be posting it! He’s a keeper!” said Danii.
“As a woman with panic attack, this is the SWEETEST gesture 🥺,” said ashleyswansonallm.
Many in the comment section also noticed that Ryan’s methods felt familiar, comparing them to gentle parenting techniques.
Gentle parenting takes a “firm but fair” approach, which encourages parents to be assertive with their child, but ultimately kind.
When Debra asked for her phone, Ryan kindly denied her request.
“Nope, because all you’re gonna do on your phone is look at stuff. You can turn on a TV show or something,” he said.
A firm response, and offering a better alternative — seems like Ryan has the gentle parenting approach down!
“He effectively put his wife on time out and I love it!!!” commented Mia dimario. “I’m all for the gentle marriaging lmfao.”
I will most definitely be creating my own anxiety chair after this — no matter how old we are, we can all use a little gentle parenting sometimes.
