Honestly, I just need strategies to lessen anxiety and how to find a healthy work-life balance.

First of all, I am so glad you were able to take the step to ask for help.

It does not at all sound like you are being dramatic as navigating a long distance relationship with the added stress of graduate school can absolutely be difficult. Marriage and communication can be a struggle and I am sure having distance between you has made it more tedious. Because of the distance, it has required the two of you to communicate in ways other than face to face.

In order to help with communication, especially when expressing your needs and feelings, I would encourage you to try "I Statements." It is a fill-in-the-blank sentence to help you communicate your emotions and to try to discourage defensive. Oftentimes, when we start a sentence with "you" the other person becomes defensive and does not listen to the need or emotion we are trying to communicate. An example would be "I feel unheard when you do not respond to me when I try to communicate because I need feedback so I feel heard."

Another way to help communication is to ask at times "what did you hear me say?" as this helps you to make sure you are expressing yourself appropriately and are clear about what you mean. I know things are busy in your program, but I would also encourage you to schedule time to have an extended conversation throughout the week in order to help foster more communication and emotional intimacy.

If there continues to be problems with communication, perhaps you two could benefit from some couples counseling. There are options that could be utilized remotely so that you both can be involved.

With the stress of graduate school, it is important for you to take care of yourself. Finding activities that help to reduce some of your stress and intentionally scheduling them into your week can be beneficial. We often neglect taking time for ourselves to rest and recharge.

For better sleep, using biofeedback and progressive muscle relaxation can be helpful. For this, you would do a body scan to see where you might be holding tension and flex and relax different muscle groups. Finding something to do to help relax can help with slowing you down to help you sleep. Also, although it might sound silly but "counting sheep" or doing some sort of counting can help get your mind off of what you are stressed about and it is rote enough that it can allow your brain a chance to relax.