FROM THE JOURNAL
The meeting went well. Your manager said thank you. Yet on the way home, you’re replaying the one answer you wish you’d given differently. Everyone else has moved on. You haven’t.
When doing well doesn’t feel reassuring
You might be the person everyone relies on: prepared, responsive, rarely missing a deadline. That can hide how much effort it takes to feel safe making an ordinary mistake. In an office where messages arrive late and being available is quietly rewarded, switching off can feel risky.
People sometimes call this “high-functioning anxiety”. It isn’t a diagnosis. The phrase can describe the gap between how capable you look and how worried you feel. You don’t have to wait for your work to suffer before taking that worry seriously.
Notice what happens after the task is finished
Do you check an email again after sending it? Find yourself reading a colleague’s brief reply as disappointment? Does rest come with the feeling that you should be doing more? These are useful things to notice, rather than another list to judge yourself against.
Try choosing one small stopping point: a time after which you won’t reopen tomorrow’s slides, for example. Notice what makes that difficult. Sometimes the obstacle is worry; sometimes your workplace really does expect too much. Both deserve attention.
You can want success and want some peace
A conversation about anxiety doesn’t need to take away your ambition. It can help you understand what you’re afraid might happen if you ease up, and what work is costing you outside the office.
You might begin with a very ordinary sentence: “I’m managing, but it takes everything I have.” That is enough to talk about.
If anxiety is affecting life beyond work, read about anxiety and stress therapy. You can book a first consultation when you are ready.
This article offers general reflection, rather than an individual assessment.