bc anxiety is high right now, but I’m also seeing people shaming themselves for not being “productive enough” during a pandemic (a sign of possible high functioning anxiety), I wanted to share a thread about what high functioning anxiety can look like —-

on the outside, you seem to have your act “together” and you present as an “achiever.” you’re someone who “gets it done.” internally, you may experience physiological symptoms such as fear, rapid heart rate, and poor sleep (difficulty falling or staying asleep).

your energy levels may cycle between “good” high energy days in which you try to do ALL THE THINGS, which you’ll then pay for with low/burnout days where you can’t seem to do anything, which you’ll follow with another ALL THE THINGS day to overcompensate. Rinse, wash, repeat.

this cycle is accompanied by constant overthinking about how you’re “not doing enough” and thinking about how much more you should be doing. there’s no real restorative rest bc even the “rest” time is spent procrastinating and/or in resistance to tasks you think you need to do.

you’re a people pleaser because your anxiety (in its own way) is trying to keep you safe, & keeping people happy by just saying yes is easier than dealing with them if you tell them “no” & open the possibility for confrontation with them. your to-do list is other people’s crap.

so you essentially keep yourself “booked and busy” because you 1) can’t stay no 2) honestly truly don’t know how to rest bc your mind is either racing, overthinking about all your tasks, or creating resistance to all the shit you need to do bc deep down you know this ain’t it.

you put a ton of pressure on yourself to produce, and you do achieve. but a lot of times, it’s your anxiety that has you achieving, not your ambition, bc it’s your fear of failure that gets you across the finish line, not your passion or purpose.

so, what do you actually DO about this? well, first, you break that burnout cycle. on high energy days, you DO NOT DO ALL THE THINGS. you block out time to rest on that day. you do not run yourself ragged so you don’t have to overcompensate the following day.

you will naturally still have some high/low days, and you work accordingly. but you do not operate in all/nothing binaries. even if on the low days you set a timer for 10 minutes at a time every couple hours & work in 10 minute chunks, that’s better than doing absolutely nada.

Next, you learn to say no. You practice it in front of a mirror if you need to. Practice it with a friend in a role play. Get good at “NO.”

“I’m honored, but I can’t right now.”
“I’m booked right now, but I can refer you to...”
“I’m sorry, but right now is not a good time.”

Every day, make a to do list of EVERYTHING you WANT to get done today. Now cross off half the things. That’s more like it! That’s probably way more realistic as to what you CAN do today. Be gentle with yourself! This is not a race!

Sleep hygiene is so important. I’ll do another thread on that another time. But the basics: Bedtime around the same time and wake up around the same time each morning. No screens before bed. Meditation can help. Yoga nidra is divine.

For resetting your nervous system & learning to relax, yoga nidra & restorative yoga is something EVERYONE should do. Spending time in green space/nature, esp now that we’ve been locked in our houses for months.

Follow my IG @alchemywithazmia for more mental health content.

I don’t have a SoundCloud LOL but I am doing an Instagram giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 followers on my IG account for yoga/mental health content! It’s for a small piece of mindful/intentional jewelry. U.S. residents can enter here if you want! https://www.instagram.com/p/CH0lK0aDX9b/?igshid=1j4i7vpo8pihd