Are There Signs of Anxiety You've Been Ignoring?

Ever had a wild animal come straight for you?

How do you think you'd react?

I stayed calm, looked down, and made sure to hold on to the handbag with the carkeys and phone. Practical response, right?

This picture is like a metaphor for my work life.

Calm in a crisis. Get the job done. That was largely my MO.

At what cost though?

The (long-hidden) cost was growing anxiety that played out in other ways. Limited sleep because I couldn't switch off properly, lack of patience, forgetfulness, not being very present with people because I was always background processing and problem solving.

But when the heart palpitations started, I knew it was time to make a drastic change.

Anxiety and mental health challenges can sneak up on us. Small things grow over time and we become so used to adjusting to accommodate them that we start accepting them. They're not normal, they're not healthy and they do need to be addressed before they grow into something that we can't just fix or adjust for.

Which signs have you been ignoring or accepting?

#HighPerformance #GrowthMindset #Coaching #MentalHealth #PersonalGrowth #MindsetShift #PersonalDevelopment #GrowthMindset #Productivity #Leadership

How this story ended: when the baboon finally left (after a very brave waiter distracted it away from me at some cost to himself), I'm pretty sure I yelled at the person taking this picture for being zero help in my 'time of crisis' and for just continuing to take pictures. That's something else to be aware of...loved ones tend to be the ones taking the brunt of our anxiety.