Feeling restless
Restlessness isn’t always visible. You can appear calm while feeling internally agitated, keyed up, or uncomfortable in your own skin. There may be an urge to move, change tasks, or do something without knowing what would help.
Anxiety mobilises energy for action. When there’s no clear outlet for that energy, it can turn into agitation and restlessness.
Your body is preparing you to respond to threat — even if the threat isn’t clear or immediate. The response makes sense; the context doesn’t.
Chronic restlessness can make concentration and learning difficult, strain relationships, and reinforce feelings of frustration or irritability.
If this has been around for a while, or feels like it’s narrowing your options, it might be worth talking it through with someone trained to listen.
In this short series, I unpack the seven common experiences of anxiety. These are patterns many people recognise in themselves — sometimes quietly, sometimes uncomfortably. If you see yourself in one or more of these, it may mean your nervous system has been working hard for a long time.
More in this series:
Feeling nervous or on edge
Constantly worrying
Worrying about different things
Trouble relaxing
Feeling restless
Easily annoyed or irritable
Feeling afraid
