High Functioning Anxiety - What is it?

Do you overthink?

Struggle to fall asleep at night due to racing thoughts?

Feel like you can’t take a break because you haven’t been ‘productive' enough?

Have a tendency to people please?

Are a perfectionist?

If you answered “yes” to any of these (or all!), it’s likely that you’re experiencing High Functioning Anxiety.

Now, it’s not a diagnosable condition, but describes anyone who seems to be ‘functioning’ well on the outside, but internally they’re experiencing anxiety in some way.

I definitely relate to this! I became aware of it most during the pandemic when I noticed my body giving me very clear signs that I was experiencing anxiety. Tightness in my chest and sinking feeling in my gut, racing thoughts, pushing myself to keep working because I didn’t feel I ‘deserved' a break…

And it becomes a negative cycle - the more you do these things, the more anxiety you feel, which causes you to do more of these things.. and the cycle self-perpetuates.

It can affect how confident you feel at work and how much pressure you place on yourself to deliver.

So, if to other people, you look calm, composed, confident… like you’ve got everything sorted out… but internally that’s not how you feel at all (instead you feel exhausted, you overthink, you have a need for reassurance or validation and you have an inner critic always ready to shine a spotlight on your weaknesses)…

…then you NEED TO CHECK OUT THIS AUDIO!

In the second last week of March 2021, I hosted a room on Clubhouse delving into this topic - High Functioning Anxiety and what it, what it looks like and some basic strategies to help you get a handle on your anxiety.

Make sure you give it a listen!