Anxiety and the Black Sheep syndrome in high-achieving professionals

High achievers and entrepreneurs are individuals who have carved their paths with grit, resilience and a determination that can be felt as empowering and shaky at the same time.

Frequently, I find that successful individuals often identify as the black sheep – the ones who didn’t quite fit the mould of their family, tradition, culture or the expectations laid upon them. For successful and high-achieving individuals, this is where the journey with anxiety can begin, feeling both isolating and exhilarating at the same time, a familiar feeling and a driver towards success.

The black sheep quality is often what drives many entrepreneurs toward innovation and independence. You push boundaries, question norms, and break free and find value in the unconventional, the creative, the unknown, and with this comes a certain sensitivity and vulnerability. Yet, the outsider identity can also amplify a feeling of not quite belonging, creating a cycle of internalized doubt and the need to feel lthat you have to constantly prove yourself, even when the outward success is evident. It is this inner conflict, masked as high-functioning anxiety, that often goes unaddressed, resulting in chaos, collapse and debilitation in the long run. But, it doesn't need to be like this.

How to Address High-Functioning Anxiety as a Black Sheep

What can you do about it? Ultimately if you have high functioning anxiety, the answer is not to keep pushing through. Stopping can feel scary, and ironically even more anxiety inducing, and yet is it what is needed and this is where hypnotherapy and embodied practices can help.

Through guided hypnotherapy sessions, we dive into the subconscious to identify the root cause of these feelings and the cycle of anxiety you’ve grown accustomed to. Hypnotherapy allows a safe space to release internalised pressures and reset mental and emotional patterns, enabling you to reconnect with a sense of inner peace, confidence, and self-worth, where success and self-acceptance can coexist. Through a subsconscious reprogramming of the black sheep energy, we can truly use this to inspire and motivate without the attachment to anxiety as a saftey mechanism. If you're ready to dive in, or simply want to learn more on how I can support, email me at hello@laurenwigmore.co.uk and keep an eye out for my 6 week Rapid Reset programme releasing atthe end of this year.