Most anxious people are carrying far more than they realise.

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]I think most anxious people have absolutely no idea how mentally overloaded they really are. My name's Tessa, I'm an anxiety counselor, and one thing I notice constantly is that anxious people tend to blame themselves for things their nervous system is doing. I should be coping better. Why am I exhausted all the time? Why does everything overwhelm me? Why can't I just stop thinking about everything? And whenever I hear people talk about themselves like that, I always think, "Just look at the world we're living in." Your alarm goes off and your brain starts scanning immediately. Messages, emails, appointments, what you forgot, who you still need to reply to, whether someone seemed off with you, what needs doing today, what you're already behind on. And that's before you've even left the house. Then there's work stress, money worries, trying to stay productive, trying to eat properly, trying to stay on top of life when your brain never fully switches off. It's constant. And the hard part is, anxious people often think this level of mental overload is normal because they've lived this way for so long. But after enough time in survival mode, your nervous system starts treating everything like it matters. A text feels urgent. A thought feels important. A decision feels high-stakes. Everything starts to feel mentally loud. No wonder your brain struggles to switch off. No wonder you're exhausted. So, the next time you call yourself lazy, dramatic, irrational, needy, or too much, just take a second because maybe your brain isn't broken. Maybe it's been carrying far too much for too long.