7 Signs Your Anxiety Is More Than Just Stress (And What To Do About It)
I think it’s fair to say that everyone feels stressed. I certainly do. I feel it during really obvious times and during those moments where my body hints that something is not okay.
Stress often comes when deadlines pile up. Life gets complicated. Or when you are driving and that one person just waits too long to turn. When stress doesn’t go away, when it follows you into the weekend, keeps you from sleeping, and shows up even when nothing is wrong, that’s no longer just stress.
That’s anxiety. And it’s more common than you think.
At Santos Counseling, we work with kids, teens, families, couples, and adults across Greensboro and all of North Carolina who are stuck in that exact place. They feel exhausted, overwhelmed, and not sure if what they’re feeling is “normal” or something that needs real support.
This post will help you figure that out.
What’s the Difference Between Stress and Anxiety?
Before we get to the signs of anxiety, it helps to understand what separates the two.
What is Stress:
Stress is a reaction to something happening right now. This can be the reaction to something challenging happening at work. Such as a difficult conversation with your employer. Stress can also come in the form of a deadline you didn’t plan for, and you are now feeling stressed from the pressure. Stress works in a manner of high to low. Meaning that the stress is high and you feel a challenging pressure. As you resolve the issue, the stress lowers and tends to fade with it.
What is Anxiety
Anxiety is different from stress. They do share similarities. One key difference is that anxiety is much more like glue. It tends to stay. For some people, it can show up even when nothing wrong is going on. The person could be simply watching TV and all of a sudden experience anxiety.
A helpful read on the topic that gives you more insight is from the American Psychological Association. Stress is tied to an external trigger, such as traffic, while anxiety tends to be future-focused. This is the type of focus that takes you away from the here and now and shifts you to tomorrow, to the unknown. It is often very persistent and focused on what might happen. Even when everything in your life is fine on the surface.
7 Signs Your Anxiety Has Gone Beyond Stress
1. The Worry Doesn’t Stop When the Problem Does
I’m sure you have experienced stress before. And like many, you noticed that after some relief, the stress usually follows resolution. You get through it right. And you even notice it in your body. The muscles relax, the heart rate slows down, and you feel ready.
With anxiety, the worry either stays with you or it makes this giant jump to the next thing. You may feel anxious about what will happen at work, then that jumps to anxiety about your friend not replying to a message on time, and so forth.
If you notice that your mind is always searching for the next thing to worry about, then that’s a good sign of an anxiety pattern. Good in that we are getting closer to identifying anxiety. Remember, that’s a key step in the process. Knowing what you are dealing with.
2. Your Body Is Carrying It
Common physical signs of anxiety include:
- Headaches that come without a clear reason
- Muscle tension, especially in the neck area or in the shoulders. Some also experience it in the jaw.
- Stomach issues, nausea, or digestive problems.
- Fatigue that doesn’t improve with rest.
- Rapid heartbeat or shortness of breath during low-stress moments.
3. Sleep Has Become a Problem
According to Harvard Health, anxiety and sleep problems have a well-documented relationship. One often feeds the other.
Common symptoms connected to sleep include:
- Difficulty falling asleep
- Waking up in the middle of the night
- Lying in bed with your mind racing
If you’re waking up more tired than when you went to bed, and that’s been happening for weeks or months, anxiety may be the reason.
4. You’re Avoiding Things You Didn’t Used to Avoid
5. You Feel On Edge — Even When Nothing Is Wrong
6. It’s Affecting Your Work or Relationships
Anxiety doesn’t stay in one corner of your life. Anxiety isn’t just a mental experience. It lives in the body too. Often, before you even consciously recognize what’s happening emotionally. When it’s persistent, it bleeds into everything.
Some of the physical signs I hear about most often:
- You might struggle to concentrate at work
- Experience second-guessing decisions you normally make easily.
- You might find yourself pulling away from people close to you, not because you want to, but because maintaining connection takes energy you don’t have right now.
7. You’ve Felt This Way for Weeks, Not Days
How Anxiety Counseling Works at Santos Counseling
First, I want to say thank you for choosing Santos Counseling. We have served the Greensboro, NC and surrounding community since 2014. We are truly thankful for the trust of the community!
Here’s what the process looks like from the moment you reach out:
Step 1: You contact us. You can call, text, or fill out the form on our website. From that point, our intake coordinator will reach out to learn a little about what’s going on and connect you with the right counselor.
Step 2: Your first session. Remember, therapy is meant to be a safe and supportive space. Not a space to pressure you. This isn’t a clipboard full of assessments. It’s a real conversation with a real person that sitting with you. Your counselor takes time to understand your full picture. You get to share what’s happening, how long it’s been going on, and what you’re hoping to get out of the work.
Step 3: A plan that fits your life. Our office utilizes research-based approaches. We don’t do one-size-fits-all counseling. We use evidence-based approaches. Our growing team utilizes approaches ranging from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to EMDR and more.
Our goal as a practice is to continue to learn so that we can better serve you. As you continue to work with your counselor, you’ll receive support aimed to help you understand the patterns underneath the anxiety and build tools that actually work outside the therapy room.
We accept most insurances. Some include: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Medcost, UnitedHealthcare, and Carolina Behavioral Health Alliance. If you’re unsure about your coverage, our team can help you check before your first session.
You Don’t Have to Keep Pushing Through This
I’ll leave you with what I often say at the end of a first session:
You reached out. That matters more than you know. That is the first step! I find that anxiety has a way of really working its way into our minds. It tends to convince people that what they’re feeling isn’t serious enough to deserve real help. That everyone feels this way. They need to try harder, sleep more, and stress less.
But, you’ve probably been trying that already. And it’s exhausting.
There’s another way. And it starts with a single conversation.
