Are You Highly Functioning with Anxiety?
What does it mean to have high-functioning anxiety? It typically refers to someone who experiences anxiety while still managing daily life quite well. Generally, a person with high-functioning anxiety may appear put together and well- accomplished on the outside, yet experience worry, stress or have obsessive thoughts on the inside
Some common symptoms of high-functioning anxiety include:
Constantly overthinking and overanalyzing.
Fear of failure and striving for perfection.
Insomnia and fatigue.
The need to please others and difficulty saying no.
Tendency to dwell on past mistakes.
Nervous habits such as nail-biting, hair twirling, or leg shaking
Anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive fear or worry caused by anticipation of a threat or conflict. While anxiety itself is a normal facet of life, anxiety disorders can disrupt one’s ability to function in day-to-day situations.
Restlessness
Fatigue
Irritability
Difficulty concentrating, racing thoughts
Insomnia and other sleeping issues
Anxiety affects the body’s physical health as well:
Excessive sweating
Digestive issues
Increased heart rate or palpitations
Stomachaches, muscle aches
Issues breathing
Panic attacks
If this is you, as it has been me in the past, here are 4 ways to deal with it:
Recognize the symptoms, learn to understand them, and acknowledge how they impact you. This will help you to accept that today may be a little more challenging and focus your energy on how you can help yourself.
Make friends with fear. Look it in the face, understand what it connects back to, and remember that it’s part of your past but it doesn’t have to be a part of your present. This takes away the power of fear and decreases its control over your life.
Reconnect with your body. Anxiety is as much physical as it is mental. Get out your head and current environment and do something different, even if for 10-15 minutes. You may need to take a walk, exercise, practice yoga, deep breaths. This will also allow your nervous energy to be channeled in a more positive direction.
Have a mantra. Anxiety in high functioning people comes down to the word “Perfectionism”. You can empower yourself by saying “I am good enough”, “I am doing my best”, “I deserve every good that happens to me”.
Check your circle. Use your friends to talk to and share when you’re having a challenging day. I used to feel guilty calling or texting my friends about how crazy my day was going or what was happening, but now I find comfort in going to them because usually I am not alone. It removed the pressure of “superwoman” and just allowed me to be a woman, to be human. In sharing this with my friends, they came up with ways that could support me that would help reduce the “weight on my plate”.
Learning how to cope with anxiety doesn’t happen overnight, however, if you make small steps, they are still steps in the right direction.
