As a society, we just keep raising the bar with what's expected from successful, great people. They need to be perfect in any way. This can lead to stress. Like, a lot. Stress is normal, right? Everyone gets it, it's part of being an adult. That's partly true. Sometimes that stress is not normal, and it's important to recognize the signs that show that it might really be more.

1. Perfectionism

It's not a bad thing to want things to be done the right way. I understand! The higher of a standard you hold yourself and other people too, the higher the expectations are, and the easier it is to stop accepting anything less. When this starts to spiral, when anger and frustration come from doing a good job and not a great job, it's a good sign that there's more to it than just being worried about being successful. If you're starting to beat yourself up about every little thing, there's something more going on.

2. Sleep Troubles

It's normal to flip through everything you need to do or everything you are worried about while you're laying in bed trying to fall asleep. However, when you start to wake up in the middle of the night, start to have exciting dreams that showcase what's been stressing you or start to find it takes longer and longer to fall asleep at night, your stress isn't stressing. Not only is your conscious mind focusing on these worries, but your subconscious too and that means it runs a lot deeper.

3. Heightened reactions

If you start to notice that you're beginning to have really quick and defensive reactions to small situations that normally wouldn't merit much of a response, that's a sign that your brain is fighting more than just normal stress. It's not something you can control. Your body keeping itself in fight or flight mode is its reaction to the continuous anxiety that's under the surface.

4. Soreness

A big sign of anxiety is tension, and not just being emotionally tense. It's easy to tense up all the muscles in your body without realizing it, holding your energy there as a way to compartmentalize it. When your muscles start to become sore for no reason, it's a sign that you've been holding all of this tension that you didn't know was there.

5. Compulsiveness

Everyone has quirks, from how they eat their food to routines they have to complete before bed and everything in between. However, the more they grow, the more dangerous of a sign that it. The more obsessive things you do shows you're subconsciously relying on some sense of order, even if you have to fabricate it everywhere you go. That's more than being stressed out. That's being anxious.

I'm not a doctor. I'm not a psychologist. I can't diagnose you with anxiety and everyone is different. Maybe you have anxiety and none of these symptoms. Maybe you have all of these and have been cleared by professionals that it's nothing more than who you are.

I'm just a girl who spent a long time suffering through anxiety she didn't know she had because she didn't know what the signs were, and these are just a list that most people I know who suffer from it too have in common. Self-care is important, and that starts with taking steps to recognize what in your life can start getting better.