By Souls of Silver
Many individuals who experience high functioning anxiety have absolutely no clue that they might be facing an issue.
Anxiety does not have the same influence on everyone every time. It affects each individual in a varied way at different times. Most people cultivate habits which help them in dealing with their anxiety and hence, be productive individuals. But there are also people whose anxiety has taken such a tight grip on them that they cannot step a foot out of their homes. One very popular trait of someone with high operative anxiety is that they’re very adept at hiding their self-doubt and stress.
Unnoticed
If an individual is afflicted with high functioning anxiety, other people mostly don’t notice. The general consensus of seeing any strange habits are shrugged off as personal quirks and left at that juncture. Which is mostly since the facial expressions on an individual’s face says an opposite story.
Calmness Under Pressure
Sometimes there is a hurricane going on in our minds, but we still have a poker face. People might hand you tasks to the already giant list of tasks that have not been attended to yet. You might feel the vehement urge to run into a dark room and break, but you bury it deep inside you and battle on.
It’s always there
It is omnipresent and never leaves you. It is termed high functioning anxiety for a reason. Your anxiety does not appear only at midnight and lets you be at peace during the day. It certainly is not a Disney curse.
Physical Manifestations
It is constantly and relentlessly taking some form or other. There is always the feeling of constant, persistent uneasiness. It can be stress and worrying. It can be nausea. You might panic. It is an ever-evolving monster, but you fight this monster every day.
First To Go Out
It is likely that you are the first person to bounce from a party. You really like being around people that you like since it makes you feel good. Up to the very moment it does not. The curse of high functioning anxiety.
Stressful Event
At the very moment the anxiety rears its ugly head, the best situations turn stressful which ultimately lead you to bolt out the door without a goodbye. This might lead to your friends considering it as a personality trait.
Trying To Be Busy
Even after fully realizing that slowing down is in your favor, you are somehow compelled to do the exact opposite. You take up a huge work-pile because you think keeping busy is the best course of action. You just cannot let yourself be isolated with your thoughts.
Trying To Please
You want to make every person in your life happy. You work very hard for them. But regardless of the number of accolades that you earn, your high functioning anxiety makes it very hard for you to be satisfied with yourself.
Read: Set Boundaries Without Guilt: 9 Important Tips For People Pleasers
Beating Yourself Up
The person that is the hardest on you is your very own self. You reprimand yourself on every mistake that you make. You don’t spare yourself any room for error. Your brain is constantly rebuking you.
Trying To Be Perfect
You aim for absolute perfection and success. Which is yet again, a manifestation of you wanting to impress the individuals that you like. It is problematic because you wreck yourself for trying to attain perfection.
Bad habits
It is very likely that you have grown bad habits which assist you to survive. You probably pick the skin on your hands or eat your nails, pluck your eyebrows or pull your hair. Breathe deep or stretch. Even search for things that might relieve anxiety and stop worrying.
Procrastination
It is also very likely that you procrastinate doing the minutest of tasks since they feel very monumental at times. This occurrence can be very true in the context of interactions such as making calls on the phone, sending responses to texts or sending emails. Anxiety can target the minutest of things, one can be incredibly scared of running basic errands and unfortunately, others might not understand.
Isolation
You tend to feel isolated amongst other people. The people close to you might find it hard to understand why generic things are difficult for you, or why you have trouble accepting a compliment. Due to this, you tend to hold back your feelings and they gnaw your head. This lead to loneliness on the inside.
You Are Your Worst critic
The worst critic that you can ever have is your very own self. You criticize yourself harshly even upon hearing praise. Constant unhappiness with your choices, your direction in life, and with yourself, in general, are consuming you.
Negative Thoughts
Heavy feelings of stress and inadequacy are deeply ingrained in the head. You might appear to hold up very well to a stranger and to your colleagues. Even your family and friends notice nothing. But you are always with the fear of losing something, which never lets you really cherish what you might have at the very moment.
As much as we hope you do not have these signs, it might be a harsh reality for quite a lot of us. But the very fact that you read this and were able to relate, is the first step. Now all that you need to do is to accept that you have high functioning anxiety and start working on it.
If you like this article, share it with your friends and family so that they can tackle their high functioning anxiety.
