Work Stress Is Eating You Alive, and You’re Still Smiling in Meetings

You’re hitting deadlines.

You’re responsive on Slack.

You’re pleasant in meetings, maybe even funny.

And then you log off and feel like someone scooped out the inside of your chest.

If work stress is hollowing you out while you keep showing up “fine,” this isn’t resilience.

It’s survival.

And it’s not sustainable.

A lot of people think work stress has to look dramatic to count:

• • • Panic attacks at your desk

    • Crying in the bathroom

    • Missing deadlines or blowing up at coworkers

But for many high-functioning adults, work stress looks like:

• • • Smiling through meetings while your jaw is clenched

    • Saying yes automatically, then resenting it later

    • Constant low-grade dread that never quite turns off

    • Needing hours to recover after a normal workday

    • Feeling like your worth is measured in productivity alone

You’re not falling apart because you can’t afford to.

If you’re good at your job and miserable, there’s a decent chance people-pleasing is part of the equation.

People-pleasing at work often looks like:

• • • Over-functioning so no one is disappointed

       

    • Anticipating needs before they’re stated

       

    • Absorbing tension so others don’t have to

       

    • Avoiding conflict at all costs

       

    • Taking responsibility for things that aren’t yours

       

This isn’t because you’re weak or spineless.

It’s because somewhere along the way, your nervous system learned:

“Being easy to work with keeps me safe.”

That strategy might have worked once.

Now it’s costing you everything.

For queer, trans, neurodivergent, or otherwise “non-default” people, work stress is often layered with masking.

Masking means:

• • Editing your tone constantly
  • Suppressing reactions that might be “too much”
  • Performing competence instead of just being competent
  • Hiding exhaustion so you’re not seen as unreliable

Masking doesn’t show up on performance reviews but your body keeps the score.

If you’re constantly exhausted and don’t know why, this is a big clue.

One of the cruelest lies of modern work culture is that your value comes from what you produce.

So you:

• • • Push through burnout because stopping feels dangerous

    • Ignore stress signals because “everyone else handles this”

    • Treat rest like a reward instead of a requirement

    • Feel ashamed for needing support at all

Therapy for work stress often starts here, not with time management, but with untangling worth from output.

Because no amount of productivity hacks will fix a system where your nervous system never feels safe.

Therapy for work stress isn’t about helping you tolerate more harm.

It helps you:

• • • Notice when your nervous system is in survival mode

    • Set boundaries without spiraling into guilt

    • Stop over-functioning to earn safety

    • Recover from chronic stress instead of powering through it

    • Decide what needs to change at work and what needs healing inside

Sometimes that leads to job changes.

Sometimes it leads to renegotiation.

Sometimes it leads to realizing you’ve been carrying far more than your share.

Often, it’s all three.

You don’t need to become careless or unmotivated.

You don’t need to stop caring.

You need a nervous system that isn’t constantly braced for impact.

Therapy helps you move from:

• • • Smiling while drowning
      
      to

    • Choosing what you give your energy to

That’s not selfish.

That’s survival with dignity.

If you’re searching for therapy for work stress or therapy for work because something feels deeply wrong, even though nothing looks wrong from the outside, you’re not imagining it.

I’m an online therapist in Georgia who works with people trapped in draining jobs, especially those who are highly capable, deeply self-aware, and completely exhausted from holding it all together.

Therapy can help you build boundaries, reclaim your nervous system, and stop earning your worth through suffering.

You don’t have to burn your life down to feel better.

You just have to stop doing this alone.

Contact me today.