Feeling Stuck With Anxiety? Here Are 4 Patterns and What They Mean
Feeling stuck with anxiety has a specific quality. You know what you should do. You have the information. You might have read all the books, listened to the podcasts, and tried the breathing exercises. And still, something won't move.
Most people assume the problem is motivation or discipline. The nervous system tells a different story.
Why Feeling Stuck With Anxiety Is Not a Willpower Problem
Anxiety is a nervous system experience. When the system is activated, the parts of the brain responsible for planning, initiating action, and following through get less blood flow. The prefrontal cortex, the area handling executive function, goes quieter when threat responses are running.
This is not a design flaw. In a genuine emergency, thinking less and reacting faster keeps you alive. The problem is when the threat response is running in situations where no actual threat exists, like sending an email, having a hard conversation, or starting a project.
Feeling stuck with anxiety is the nervous system protecting you from a threat the system has decided is real. Understanding which threat response is running changes how you approach the stuck feeling entirely.
How the nervous system dysregulates under chronic anxiety.
The 4 Patterns of Feeling Stuck
The nervous system has a limited number of responses to perceived threat: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. Each one produces a different version of stuck.
Most people recognize one or two of these as their default. Some cycle through all four depending on the situation.
Pattern 1: Stuck in Overdrive
Overdrive is the fight/hypervigilance version of stuck. Everything feels urgent. The to-do list is endless. Your mind won't stop running through what needs to be done, what went wrong, and what might go wrong next.
From the outside, this looks like productivity. From the inside, nothing feels finished and rest is impossible.
Signs of this pattern:
• Racing thoughts even when there's nothing urgent
• Constant low-level restlessness
• Difficulty stopping even when you're exhausted
• Checking and rechecking things that are already done
Pattern 2: Stuck Avoiding
Avoidance is the flight version. The anxiety is real, but the response is to move away from the source rather than toward it.
Stuck-in-avoidance looks like: putting off the email, reorganizing your desk instead of starting the project, scrolling to not think about the thing, saying yes to everything except the one thing you need to address.
Avoidance is not laziness. The nervous system is performing a reasonable calculation: if this thing causes anxiety and I avoid it, the anxiety decreases. Short-term, the strategy works. Long-term, the pile grows and the anxiety compounds.
Pattern 3: Stuck in Freeze
Freeze is the least discussed and one of the most distressing versions of stuck. The body goes still. Tasks sit untouched. Time passes. The experience is often described as being unable to think, feeling foggy, or watching yourself from outside.
Many people in freeze feel profound shame about the experience. They are not choosing this. The nervous system shut down higher functioning because the threat assessment determined action was not safe.
Signs of this pattern:
• Difficulty starting things even when you want to
• Feeling blank or foggy when trying to make decisions
• Hours passing without any action on important tasks
• A sense of being detached from your own life
Pattern 4: Stuck Performing
Fawn is the people-pleasing version of the stress response. Stuck-in-fawn looks less like inaction and more like over-action in the wrong direction: doing everything for everyone else, losing track of your own needs, staying busy in ways that serve others while your own priorities stall.
People in this pattern often feel stuck in a different way. They're extremely active, just not on the things that matter to them. Saying no feels dangerous. Boundaries feel selfish. The anxiety is managed by staying useful.
How polyvagal theory explains these nervous system states.
What Each Pattern Needs
Each pattern has a different starting point.
Overdrive benefits from slowdown practices: extended exhales, deliberate pauses, and creating hard stops in the day. The nervous system needs to learn that stopping is safe.
Avoidance benefits from small, low-stakes exposure. Not white-knuckling through the feared thing, but moving incrementally closer. The nervous system learns the threat is manageable through gradual, repeated contact.
Freeze benefits from gentle physical movement before attempting a task. Walking, stretching, light activity, or even changing rooms shifts the physiological state before any mental effort. Trying to think your way out of freeze tends to deepen the freeze.
Fawn benefits from practicing limits in small amounts. Noticing where your own needs are going unmet is the starting point. Most people in this pattern find this work feels uncomfortable before it feels relieving.
When Therapy Helps
Understanding which pattern you're in is the first step. Shifting the underlying nervous system response is the second step, and that's often where professional support makes the most difference.
A therapist working with the nervous system and anxiety helps you move beyond knowing what's happening into actually changing the physiological response. The stuck feeling loosens, and the change often shows up faster than expected.
I offer telehealth anxiety therapy in Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, South Carolina, and Florida. Reach out to schedule a consultation and explore whether working together is a good fit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does feeling stuck with anxiety actually mean?
Feeling stuck with anxiety means the nervous system is in a state where normal action, decision-making, or follow-through has become difficult. The brain's threat response takes priority over executive function, making starting things, finishing things, or even thinking clearly much harder than they normally would be.
Why do I know what to do but still not do it with anxiety?
Knowing what to do and being able to do it are different operations in the brain. Anxiety activates the threat response, which reduces access to the prefrontal cortex where planning and initiation happen. The gap between knowing and doing is a nervous system experience, not a character flaw.
What is the freeze response in anxiety?
Freeze is a nervous system state where the body goes still and higher functioning shuts down. The experience often feels like fog, blankness, or time passing without action. Freeze develops when the nervous system determines action is not safe. It is a protective response, not a choice, and it responds to gentle physiological approaches rather than mental effort.
How do I get unstuck from anxiety?
The starting point depends on which pattern is running. Overdrive responds to slow-down tools. Avoidance responds to small incremental exposure. Freeze responds to gentle movement before attempting tasks. Fawn responds to gradual practice with limits. Identifying the pattern first tends to make the approach much more effective.
Is feeling stuck with anxiety a sign I need therapy?
If feeling stuck with anxiety is persistent, affecting your work, relationships, or daily life, or if you've tried self-help approaches without lasting change, therapy is worth exploring. A therapist specializing in anxiety can work with the nervous system responses underlying the stuck feeling in ways self-help strategies typically don't reach.
Can anxiety cause procrastination?
Anxiety contributes to procrastination in multiple ways. Avoidance reduces anxiety short-term by moving away from the feared thing. Freeze makes starting tasks physiologically difficult. Overdrive keeps the mind busy in all directions except the one thing needed. Each version of anxiety-driven procrastination responds differently.
What is the difference between anxiety freeze and laziness?
Freeze is an involuntary nervous system response to perceived threat. Laziness is a judgment applied from the outside, and in the context of anxiety, it is almost always inaccurate. People experiencing freeze are not choosing inaction. The system shut down higher functioning as a protective measure. The distinction matters for how the experience gets addressed.
About the Author
Taylor Garff, M.Coun, LCPC, CMHC, LPC, CCATP is a licensed therapist with over 10 years of experience helping adults manage anxiety, overwhelm, and identity challenges. He is certified in HeartMath, Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP), and breathwork facilitation. Taylor is the founder of Inner Heart Therapy, where he provides online therapy across multiple states.
