Be Perfect, Please Others: The Quiet Anxiety of High-Functioning Women

You don't look anxious. That's part of the problem.

You hit your deadlines. You remember birthdays. You answer the WhatsApp. You make the appointment for your mum, finish the report on time, and still manage to put a meal on the table that isn't beige. Colleagues describe you as "on top of it." Friends ring you when things go wrong. Nobody, including you, would put you in a clinical box.

And yet. There's the 3am wake-up where your brain rehearses tomorrow's meeting. The tight chest before a difficult email. The way a single piece of mild criticism can shadow your whole week. The exhaustion that doesn't really lift on the weekend, because the weekend has its own list.