Anxiety isn’t just something that you, alone, feel – millions are living with it every day. And it’s not going away. In fact, it’s rising around the world at a pace we can’t afford to ignore.
But why does that matter to you? Especially if you’re already feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and trying to hold it all together? My intention, after all, is not to make you feel more anxious!
Understanding why anxiety is increasing—and who it’s affecting the most—can be the first step toward changing how you respond to it. Especially if you’re a high-achieving, always-on, always-caring person who never seems to get a break.
Chronic Anxiety Is Now a Global Epidemic
According to the World Health Organization, more than 301 million people globally are now living with an anxiety disorder.
Let that number sink in: 301 million.
And that doesn’t include the many who haven’t been diagnosed but feel the daily toll of chronic stress, looping thoughts, emotional exhaustion, and physical tension. I personally know a lot of people like that, so I imagine the number is much, much higher.
Anxiety is no longer a rare condition. It has become one of the defining health challenges of our time—affecting both women and men. While women are being disproportionately affected, especially in younger age groups, boys and men are also experiencing significant increases in anxiety, often under-reported due to stigma or cultural expectations around emotional expression.
Who’s Struggling the Most?
Research shows that anxiety affects women twice as much as men. Overall, we see a particularly noticeable surge among:
- Working moms – Juggling careers, household responsibilities, and caregiving leaves little time for rest or self-care. The constant pressure to be everything for everyone leads to chronic nervous system activation.
- Health care and education professionals – These roles demand deep emotional presence and often involve serving others in high-stress environments. Compassion fatigue and emotional overload are common—and often invisible.
- Entrepreneurs and leaders – High achievers carry the weight of responsibility, decision-making, and perfectionism. Many feel isolated at the top, unsure where to turn for real support.
- Women navigating hormonal changes, parenting, and aging – From perimenopause to raising children to caring for aging parents, this stage of life comes with profound transitions—physical, emotional, and relational—that make anxiety more likely to surface.
- Teenage girls aged 13-18: This is the age group that is the most concerning; anxiety seems to be hitting girls the hardest. In the United States, for example, approximately 38% of teen girls aged 13–18 have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, compared to 26.1% of boys. Globally, girls are experiencing disproportionate rates of mental distress, exacerbated by factors like social pressure, trauma, and hormonal changes.
Many look calm on the outside but are unraveling inside. Sound familiar?
This is high-functioning anxiety—and it’s exhausting.
Why Is Anxiety on the Rise?
There are many contributing factors, but these are the ones that seem to hit the hardest:
- Chronic overstimulation – Constant exposure to news, screens, and notifications keeps the nervous system on high alert.
- Social disconnection – We’re more digitally connected than ever, but many feel deeply isolated.
- Cultural pressure – The pressure to do more, be more, care more, succeed more has become unrelenting.
- Unprocessed trauma & stress – Our nervous systems were never designed to carry so much, for so long, without rest.
- Adolescence and hormonal shifts – In girls, puberty initiates neurochemical changes that make them more vulnerable to anxiety and emotional dysregulation.
Why This Matters for You
If you’re someone who lives with racing thoughts, can’t relax even when things are quiet, or wakes up already exhausted—you’re not alone. You’re part of a much larger pattern.
This pattern isn’t just about individual stress—it’s a cultural shift. Our society has become one that normalizes burnout, celebrates hyper-productivity, and praises people—especially women—for constantly holding it all together. High-functioning anxiety has become a hidden epidemic, and it disproportionately affects those who are the caregivers, the doers, the perfectionists, and those who are juggling careers, family, emotional labor, and an overwhelming to-do list—often without time or space to care for themselves.
The reason this matters so much is because awareness is the first step to change. When you understand that your anxiety is not a personal failing—but a natural response to an unsustainable culture—you can finally begin to let go of the shame and self-blame. You can stop pushing through and start learning how to work with your body instead of against it.
You are not weak. You are not alone. And most importantly—you are not powerless to change this. Once you see the pattern, you can begin to step out of it. And that’s where the real transformation begins.
And that’s not to scare you.
It’s to validate your experience. To help you realize you’re not failing or broken. You’re living in a world that has trained your body to stay in survival mode.
And most importantly:
You can retrain your nervous system. You can find calm again.
And it starts with awareness. Understanding the global rise in anxiety helps you:
- Let go of shame or self-judgment
- Recognize that your symptoms are normal responses to abnormal levels of stress
- Get curious about what might actually help
What Can You Do About It?
This is the part where we move from awareness to action. What does action mean?
Action does not mean coping. It doesn’t mean pushing harder. It doesn’t mean being happier if you don’t feel happy. It means:
- Learning the skills that
- Reconnect with your breath, your body, and your calm
- Use science-backed practices to retrain your nervous system—not just quiet your thoughts
All in less than 15 minutes a day.
Final Thoughts: You’re Not Alone, and You’re Not Powerless
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, scattered, or like your mind just won’t stop racing—please know you’re not alone. What you’re experiencing is a normal response to an abnormal amount of pressure. The world has become louder, faster, and more demanding—and it’s no wonder your system feels like it’s constantly under threat.
But even in the middle of all of this, there are simple, gentle ways to begin creating calm inside yourself.
Action does not mean coping. It doesn’t mean pushing harder. It doesn’t mean being happier if you don’t feel happy. It means:
- Slow down — Stopping to listen, feel your body and rest, on a regular basis, is so important! A simple way to do this is to sit, or lie down, and breathe slowly and deeply. Try a count of 4 seconds and 4 seconds out, and make it longer when you can. Let the breath remind you that you’re here, and you’re safe.
- Step away from your screen for five minutes — Go outside if you can. Let the sunlight bathe your face. Look at something green. Let your eyes and brain rest.
- Train your body to soften — Take regular breaks to simply notice your body. Notice how much you’ve been holding. Whisper to yourself: “It’s OK to soften.”
- Get to know your anxiety ‘as it is’ — One of the most effective ways to reduce the power of your anxiety is to get to know it, like a friend. It’s a part of you, after all! What happens when you sit and feel it for 10 minutes, without judgment, without believing that you already know it? Bring the curiosity of a newborn baby and the love of a new mother.
- Tell someone how you’re really doing — Anxiety thrives in silence. Connection, even just one honest conversation, can begin to break the cycle.
Start with one of these today—not all five. Small shifts are powerful.
You’re not alone in this. You’re not too sensitive or broken. You’re a human being who has been carrying too much, for too long—and your body is asking you to come back home.
Start by understanding what’s happening—then take the next gentle step toward healing.
Thank you David. I am considering your term ‘high functioning anxiety’. I have called it, in myself, low grade anxiety. Forever. Maybe calling it something different can help me look at it differently? Not sure that I can see this as a friend….but….maybe? At least I can work on being aware, and when I am aware of some of these feelings, maybe just ‘letting them be’ (works better for me than ‘letting them go’.)
Hi Sylvia. Yes, I believe that adapting the language to suit yourself is important. The most important piece is to be able to see if you are resisting the experience of anxiety by pushing it away or judging yourself for having it. Of you’re ‘letting it be’, then you are likely not resisting it. If you can, see if you are able to add ’embracing it’ or ‘holding it’, like you would a child that you love deeply.