Is It Ambition—or Anxiety? Understanding High-Functioning Anxiety
Anxiety is the number one reason why people seek medical help, and it has been for a long time. At the same time, anxiety remains misunderstood and under-reported. In some cases, it goes unnoticed. This is not because the symptoms are minor and no treatment is needed. Rather, people with high-functioning anxiety often don’t know they have it. If they did know, however, they’d have a hard time admitting it.
As a result, all around us are people who seem organized, reliable, and under control. Meanwhile, your go-to person might be the most anxious one in every room they enter. In fact, we may be talking about someone just like you.
General Anxiety Basics
In a vacuum, anxiety is just one of many human emotions. It plays the vital role of alerting us to danger and can save our lives. However, this important circuitry can malfunction when we lose the ability to accurately recognize which threats are real. The digital world is so unnatural to us that we start seeing risks everywhere. We also start overreacting to such perceptions in a big way.
What is described above is the genesis of an anxiety disorder. But what happens when you feel this happening and take active steps to hide it? What if you learn to mask your irrational fears by assuming the role of ambition? Quite often, you can temporarily suppress symptoms and replace them with signs that you’re brimming with confidence, efficiency, and clarity. If this sounds familiar, you may be dealing with high-functioning anxiety.
Is It Ambition—or Anxiety? Understanding High-Functioning Anxiety
It’s not a binary scenario. Someone with high-functioning anxiety can also have ambition. The key is to discern which tendency is the primary driver of thoughts and behaviors. If it’s anxiety, you’re probably struggling with hidden symptoms while wearing yourself out trying to present the opposite image. Below are two categories of symptoms that serve as hallmarks of high-functioning anxiety.
You Feel Exhausted
Life can be demanding on its own. For someone with anxiety, it becomes more intense. The overthinking and rumination alone are exhausting. Those who slide into a role with high-functioning anxiety, however, wind up depleted mentally and physically. Everything is a major negotiation in your mind. You want people to rely on you, but you resent having to never say no. Another component of your exhaustion is the 24/7 effort to keep from being exposed. What if the world realized you weren't perfect? Sometimes, you wish you could open up about your feelings and have someone nurture you.
You Feel Neglected
The nurturing mentioned above won’t come if you’re too nervous to let it happen. To be cared for is to offer a hint of vulnerability. Part of you feels good about being viewed as a tenacious person with ambition. Yet, your struggle remains invisible. No one asks how you are because you can’t let your guard down.
Just Because You Seem to Function Well, Doesn’t Mean You Don’t Need Help
Anxiety disorders are a diagnosable condition that requires professional help. When you don’t allow anyone to know how you feel, such a condition goes unseen and untreated. Therapy offers you a secure venue to practice opening up. In a private setting with a counselor, you can feel safer talking about what others can’t see.
Left unchecked, high-functioning anxiety becomes a Jenga game of unhealthy coping mechanisms. The stress of waiting for it all to collapse is untenable. Connecting with a compatible therapist may feel scary, but the ideal step to begin unraveling the root causes, patterns, and triggers you live with every day. Anxiety therapy is a proven way to live a more peaceful, fulfilling life. I’d love to talk more about this with you soon.