5 Tips for Navigating High Functioning Anxiety Skies

I don’t think people fully understand what it feels like to live with high functioning anxiety unless you’re in the pilot’s seat. It’s taken me a very long time just to get to this place and I am still navigating a lot of the storms that having high functioning anxiety has done to me.  It is not a fun place to be in – restless and sleepless nights, excessive exhaustion, mental breakdowns because you never feel “good enough” for the task at hand, always being ‘busy’, and overanalyzing everything. Mayday! Mayday! Until I crashed and burned and then walked away.

Here are five things that help me survive the wreckage:

1.       Turn off the noise. Most things in life are simply just that noisy noise. We are inundated by advertisements, social media posts, television and polarizing things. It’s okay to turn it down or even turn it off. There is peace in simplicity, quiet and the unfollow button.

2.       Take a break. I know when I feel like I’m climbing the walls and can’t deal with things. I need a long timeout for myself. That could be a long weekend to look at different walls or just some much needed time to be alone with my thoughts.  

3.       Try to find a balance. We all have busy lives but making time to be unbusy has become mandatory. I started making time to do this and really focused on protecting my peace. I just sit and listen to sounds around me. I take it all in, breathe and appreciate the little gifts of the universe that arrive for me. Angela 1 Anxiety 0.

4.       I stopped putting stock in things that don’t really matter. I had to stop doing a lot of things I loved so I could reset. I had to have really tough conversations with myself about my purpose – what it is not and what it is and look to building what it will be.

5.       Be gentle. With yourself and with others. I am usually kind to strangers but am learning to be kinder to myself. I have been a people pleaser my entire life and it hasn’t gotten me anywhere but hurt. I’m learning to say “No” and “Fuck Off” gracefully and be content with the results. My purpose is to serve, the right people and for far too long I put stock in the wrong people. Aren’t we all learning as we go, though?

Living with anxiety sucks and at least we have others who can help us when we need big shoulders. Go listen to “Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty and I guess you’ll know when you get there.