I started learning about high-functioning anxiety from our guest today, Nancy Jane Smith. The way Nancy described anxiety was nothing like what I thought of anxiety to be... but was everything about my experience of the world.
I've shared on the podcast before that only recently did I realize I was living with chronic anxiety. I had always identified as dealing with chronic depression and didn't recognize my normal-for-me mental state was one of high anxiety. But the more I've learned from Nancy, the more I've learned about my own brand of anxiety.
Nancy is an expert in High Functioning Anxiety. Nancy is trained as a licensed professional counselor and therapeutic coach. She's the author of The Happier Approach book and the host of The Happier Approach podcast. And, she lives every day with high functioning anxiety.
People with high functioning anxiety respond to anxiety by over-performing, by showing up to do all the things, by trying to be so good that nothing bad can happen.
That's pretty much me in a nutshell. And it's absolutely how I started off this whole crisis. I figured that I could perform my way into sanity and certainty.
Well, listener, I could not. And neither can you.
Now, Nancy and I recorded this interview before the cancelled events, the lockdowns, and the economic uncertainty. So we don't talk about this collective experience explicitly. But if you listen between the lines, you'll hear it. It's there. We might not have known it was coming yet but everything we talk about applies to this unique period of time because high functioning anxiety is so dang predictable.
In this interview, Nancy and I talk about how she thrives with high functioning anxiety as a business owner, how she's structured her business to support her with this challenge, and who she relies on for the support she needs.
Whether high functioning anxiety is your normal to or whether you're listening as someone who is interested in the many ways we find what works for our unique situations, I think this episode will be really enlightening.
The post EP 280: Thriving With High Functioning Anxiety With The Happier Approach Host Nancy Smith appeared first on What Works.