For the longest time, I didn’t think I had anxiety.
I mean, anxious people panic, they struggle to function, they avoid high-pressure situations, and they struggle with stress, visibly!
Me? I was closer to the opposite. Modesty aside, I always seemed to be on top of things, organized, reliable, achieving. I did start noticing that, none of it ever felt like enough. My brain never rested. Every “win” was followed by a wave of overanalysis and whatsnext's.
When I came across Functioning Anxiety or High Functioning Anxiety in my work with Performers, I came to understand that:
Anxiety wasn’t just something that made people freeze, it could also be the thing fueling them to keep moving, too much.
High-Functioning or Functioning Anxiety isn’t the anxiety that stops you.
It’s the anxiety that won’t let you stop.
Here's my story - 5 ways that I've noticed that Functioning Anxiety has showed up for me...
I don't think I'm alone in this...but let me know...How it's showed up for you.
I used to wear my perfectionism like a badge of honor. Double-checking everything, responding to emails immediately, making sure no detail was left unchecked, it made me feel responsible and in control. But underneath, if I was honest with myself, it wasn’t just about being excellent. It was about fear. Fear of making a mistake. Fear of looking unprepared. Fear of disappointing someone.
If overthinking were an Olympic sport, I’d have a gold medal. Conversations replay in my head like a never-ending highlight reel.
Overthinking convinced me that if I just think a little harder, i’ll find the perfect solution. But in reality? I just ended up double-guessing myself, and stuck in a loop that lead nowhere.
I used to say yes to everything, extra projects, last-minute favors, social events I didn’t have the energy for, because saying no felt worse. How would it affect how they thought about me? What if they stopped relying on me?
Saying yes to everything meant saying no to myself. And eventually, that caught up to me in the form of resentment, and feeling unappreciated.
Have you ever tried to relax but felt uneasy doing it?
So, like if I'm not actively being productive, I'm somehow falling behind! High-functioning anxiety kept me trapped! Even in moments of downtime, my brain was running. Scanning for the next task, the next thing to fix, the next problem to solve. Or worse, Stress-Laxing - the guilt of not being actively productive was a constant shadow.
No matter how much I achieved, there was always this nagging thought: What if I’m not actually as good as people think I am?
Always feeling like I'm one mistake away from being exposed as a fraud. Imposter Syndrome convinced me that my success, my skill, my ability...was luck. So I overprepared, overworked, and overextended myself just to prove I deserved my accolades...to who? I don't even know.
Recognizing that Functioning Anxiety looks like success from the outside, but inside, it’s a relentless storm, was a game changer for me. Not only helping me understand myself better, but recognizing it in others and defining tools and strategies to help. Learn More
Real Talk...
Managing your symptoms of high-functioning anxiety isn’t about getting rid of them, it’s about learning how to work with them, instead of against yourself. It’s about recognizing when the drive for excellence, the strengths of being functioning turns into self-sabotage.
So now you know more about me and my approach...
How does High-Functioning Anxiety, or your Functional Anxiety show up for you?
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