When Anxiety Masks as Productivity: The Hidden Costs of Staying Busy

Anxiety is often recognised through its more obvious symptoms—feeling nervous, panicky, or having full-blown panic attacks. But anxiety can also hide in plain sight, masked as a relentless drive to stay busy. This form of anxiety often goes unnoticed, as it’s frequently mistaken for productivity and efficiency.

In its essence, anxiety is an energy of mobilisation. It’s a response triggered by the brain to prepare the body for potential threats. While this can be life-saving in genuinely dangerous situations, it can become a chronic state for some people, manifesting as a constant need to act and accomplish. These individuals might appear as go-getters—always on the move, tackling tasks quickly, and thriving in fast-paced environments. However, this rapid pace can be a sign of underlying anxiety, driving them to stay perpetually mobilised and avoiding the discomfort of stillness.

To notice if you might be running your life in anxiety, pay attention to the pace at which you operate. Anxiety is often linked to a rapid pace—if you find yourself constantly rushing and feeling the need to stay busy, this could be a manifestation of anxiety.

Another way to recognise it is by observing how you feel when you’re not busy. If you feel agitated or irritable when you have to stay still, it’s a sign that busyness might be a way of coping with anxiety.

One way that we can start to bring awareness to this is through the practice of mindfulness, actively slowing down, attending to pace, and self-soothing/self-regulating. By incorporating these practices, we can start to break the cycle of constant mobilisation and find a healthier balance in our lives and in our society on a wider level.

Katherine Jordan
​Founder & Director