Renée Okafor, LICSWThe quiet kind of anxiety no one talks about
In brief
Not every anxious person looks anxious. Sometimes it's the high-functioning, always-fine, secretly-exhausted kind. On the anxiety that hides in plain sight.
When we picture anxiety, we picture panic — a racing heart, a shaking hand. But a lot of anxiety is quieter than that. It looks like being 'on top of everything.' It looks like replaying a conversation for the tenth time, lying awake mentally solving tomorrow, or a low background hum of dread you can't quite explain.
High-functioning doesn't mean fine
Plenty of people carry real anxiety while looking completely put-together. They meet the deadlines, answer the texts, show up smiling — and come home depleted. If that's you, the fact that you're coping doesn't mean you're okay, and it doesn't mean you don't deserve support.
In therapy, we gently turn down the volume: making room for the worry instead of fighting it, loosening the grip of 'what if,' and building a kinder, steadier relationship with your own mind. You don't have to white-knuckle your way through anymore.
About the author
Renée Okafor, LICSW
Founder & Clinical Director · Longwater Counseling Collective
Renée founded Longwater in 2016 and works with trauma and perinatal mental health. On a group practice's blog, posts carry the name of whoever wrote them — a byline is how a reader finds the clinician whose thinking they liked.