5 Warning signs of High-functioning Anxiety
No one truly prepares you for life. You may have done all the things that you thought you needed to do. You went to college, trade school or learned on the job. Got a job in what you studied and started working and did well. Maybe it took you a few years and you continued work toward some career goals and are very successful...at least on paper.
You get the kudos and have respect of your peers; possible even getting that great promotion. Yet you feel numb like you are just moving from one moment to the next often without a sense of joy or happiness. You might even tell yourself I need to work harder and more often, yet your numbness persists and family and friends get the leftovers. This is a sign of high-functioning anxiety; while not a medical diagnosis, it is when we continue to move forward despite feeling numb and flat while quietly suffering while looking successful on paper.
Here are some warning signs you feel flat/numb even while you're successful on paper:
1. Everything feels flat: Whether we realize it or not, we wear our emotions on our face. Burnout can feel like walking depression or productive anxiety where we continue moving forward with what people say like a “deer in headlights.” All the while punishing ourselves. This can be a loss of direction or fulfillment with things that helped in the past like scrolling on social media, spending time with friends or the usual things don’t interest us anymore.
2. You’re exhausted, even after rest: When we are emotionally exhausted it is consistent with everything that we do. Emotional exhaustion goes deeper than getting enough sleep or eating enough food. It is how we see the world and mindset we have with everything. Exhaustion is one of the 3 core dimensions to burnout that can make way for more cynicism and feeling unworthy for everything you have and earned.
3. You’ve gone cynical or detached: everything in life feels pointless. This leads to being more mentally absent at work, with friends, partners and children. You go through the motions without much intention have more of a “whatever” perception to everything that might have filled you up in the past.
4. Wins feel empty: When experiencing burnout or feeling flat, nothing feels good. You have an eternal blah and always empty. Clinically we call this “walking depression” when you walk through the world getting everything done; however, none of it feels meaningful just empty check marks
5. You keep pushing harder: it is normal that we just want things to change by doing the same thing over and over. This is when you push hard and harder hoping it will suddenly change despite it not helping the last 10 times. You think, if I just finish this project, help on last patient, or volunteer to work later hours I will feel that “win” but the win never comes.
Don’t despair, there is ways you can change. This is what is called being STUCK with psychological inflexibility. You can regain with:
Connecting back with your values by asking “If I were 80, what would I want my life to have stood for?
” Make room for emotions: “Take a mindful minute a notice where do you feel that emotion in your body?”
Utilize defusion with mantras of “Do I truly care about this?
” Check your “why” if this is your goal or your someone else’s expectation.
Take one small step by take physical action for what you value
Doing this on your own maybe the first step and if you have been feeling flat if 50% of the time. This is a sign of suffering from psychological inflexibility. If you have been feeling flat despite everything you’ve built. Professionals can help you connect.
Schedule your free consult today.