Why You Feel Anxious After Something Good Happens

When you accomplish something amazing like earning a promotion, finishing a passion project or finally paying off your credit card youd think a burst of happiness would be followed by relief. Maybe even a dash of relaxation. Right?

Or take these recent days following the announcement of Vice President Kamala Harris presidential campaign. Many social media users expressed that theyre feeling hopeful about the VPs run and her odds against former President Donald Trump . Youd think people would be feeling more at ease given their optimism but thats not true for everyone.

simply sick to my stomach feeling hope again, its like eating meat for the first time in 20 years, my body is confused

Zack Bornstein (@ZackBornstein) July 23, 2024","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Zack Bornstein","author_url":"https://twitter.com/ZackBornstein","cache_age":86400,"description":"simply sick to my stomach feeling hope again, its like eating meat for the first time in 20 years, my body is confused Zack Bornstein (@ZackBornstein) July 23, 2024\n\n\n","options":{"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Zack Bornstein on Twitter / 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simply sick to my stomach feeling hope again, its like eating meat for the first time in 20 years, my body is confused
Zack Bornstein (@ZackBornstein) July 23, 2024

Its actually not unusual to feel more anxious in these circumstances.

Anxiety can be a bit tricky, as its a primitive response thats hard-wired into the brain, said Carla Marie Manly, a California-based clinical psychologist and author of Joy From Fear . The brains fear circuit works very quickly, and it doesnt always pause to differentiate between good anxiety and bad.

So, when something good happens, the physical symptoms you feel are similar to those that you associate with panic or fear, Manly said.

But even when you are able to distinguish between feelings of excitement (good stress) and panic (bad stress) following a dose of success, the climb down from Mount Euphoria can be an anxiety trigger in itself. When your body becomes accustomed to a chronic state of anxiety, the positive physiological changes that happen after good news can, paradoxically, trigger the sense that something isnt right simply because youre not used to feeling good. As a result, your body never fully lets go of its hypervigilant state, Manly said.

The brains fear circuit works very quickly, and it doesnt always pause to differentiate between good anxiety and bad.
- Carla Marie Manly, California-based clinical psychologist

This reaction may also be exacerbated by an underlying belief that the good event will probably be followed by something bad perhaps because in your past, bad things that have happened to you often transpired when you were doing well or things were relatively calm, said Jo Eckler, a Texas-based licensed clinical psychologist and author of I Cant Fix You Because Youre Not Broken . Instead of enjoying the moment, you spend that time waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Anxiety can increase when good things happen for many other reasons too, like growing up in a family where success was met with resentment, ongoing experiences of losing things soon after you got them or feeling like a target once you have something to lose.

We learn so much as children that we dont even realize at the time, Eckler said.

Fortunately, this is a learned way of thinking that can be managed. If your anxiety doesnt seem to understand that it can clock out when things are going well, here are some expert-recommended mental exercises that can help:

Acknowledge that your anxiety is getting triggered.