Does my anxiety cause me to be lazy?

It can often come off as laziness. But what you are truly feeling inside is not laziness, it is fear.

Someone once told me that perfectionists are the biggest procrastinators. I don't know if it's true as a rule, but I've found it to be true for me. When I am worried about doing something just right, I tend to put it off until the worry that I won't get it done overwhelms the worry that I need to do it perfectly. When something makes us worry or is unpleasant, it's common for us to put it off. When we are anxious about a lot of things, we can put a lot of things off, which can come off as laziness. I don't think anxiety makes someone lazy, but I think it makes things harder and makes it more likely that they will put things off.

Anxiety causes you to be many things. I wouldn't call it laziness, though. Anxiety, especially if constant, can cause fatigue, lack of motivation, and ultimately exhausted both emotionally and physically. I can say that through experience. x.x

No, it does not. Your anxiety may cause you to avoid situations that distress you, but you're not avoiding them because you're lazy, but because you don't want to feel the discomfort. People may think it's being lazy, but they don't know what's really going on.

I don't think it's fair to call it laziness. It's not you being lazy when you're depressed or anxious, it's you being depressed and anxious. If that makes sense. If you're depressed and can't get out of bed, you're not lazy, you're depressed. And it's not your fault. If you're too anxious to do anything that doesn't make you lazy it means you're in constant turmoil, pain and anxiety--and it's causing paralysis.

Anxiety is really hard, and can be very tiring. I wouldn't be so quick to put the laziness label on yourself - you may just be exhausted because managing everyday situations are more difficult for you than the average person who is not dealing with anxiety.

Anxiety can cause avoidance of that which causes us anxiety. This avoidance can be interpreted by others as "laziness" when that is really not the case. Explaining to others about your anxiety, what you are going through and how it affects your life may help others see you in a different light and be more understanding towards you.

I myself tend to feel so overwhelmed when I'm having high anxiety that I can't seem to do much more than try and keep it together. If it happens occasionally I try not to beat myself up about it and let myself have a "lazy" day and try to refocus the following day. If it becomes a pattern I sometimes have to force myself to break the cycle, letting it drag on does more harm than good. I feel more at peace when I have accomplished a task, even something small.

Your anxiety can come in the form of perfectionism, where you are afraid to mess up. Sometimes, this can cause you to feel overwhelmed and avoid doing such tasks altogether, because you can't mess up if you don't do it. At worst anxiety can also just make it hard to function generally because your mind is so preoccupied with worrying it can't cope with everyday life.