Society loves a high achiever.
Someone who is disciplined, works hard and pushes themselves beyond their limits, often to please others, and achieve their goals.
Parents love a child who is a high achiever: they tend to get good grades, excel in sports and have a good group of friends. Employers love to hire high achievers as they often excel in the workplace and move up quickly. Success is important to a high achiever, and they are used to the applause they get about their achievements.
They often tie their worth to their productivity, what they can accomplish and what they can achieve. High achiever anxiety can sometimes looks like a rapid heart rate, sweaty palms, restlessness and agitation. They often have trouble slowing down and feel more anxious when they have free time.
However, being a high achiever can comes with its own set of difficulties that often are not shown to the outside world, even to loved ones.
It can seem like a never ending cycle of taking on too much than they can actually handle while not having the time or support to rest and recharge. This cycle can easily cause anxiety.
The anxiety in high achievers can be perpetuated by:
- Perfectionism
- Panic if something does not go as predicted
- Obsessing about grades, career or the future
- People pleasing
- Anxiety over future thinking and planning
- Feeling triggered when not in control
High achievers are often good at hiding their anxiety from others because they can continue to perform well in school and at work.
Sometimes high achievers hang onto their anxiety because they feel it helps them perform well. There are ways to break free from anxiety, and still be able to live a life you are proud of.
Often when high achievers start to feel anxious they double down on their work.
Working through the anxiety is a coping mechanism high achievers use to try to numb or distract themselves from anxiety by achieving good results. However, this cycle can lead to chronic anxiety, which can impact your physical health, relationships and overall happiness.
The following techniques are taught in therapy to help high achievers work through their anxiety:
- Mindfulness
- Learning Self-Compassion to work through the inner critic
- Taking breaks from the business, sports or school that can fuel the anxiety to allow rest
- Setting boundaries to end the people pleasing
Contact us today to start taking the steps needed to work through your anxiety.