Why You Feel More Anxious In November And December

By Lyndsay Babcock

Director & Principal Psychologist – The Self Centre Australia

In November and December, something shifts. It does not crash or announce itself. It moves slowly, like a change in light as the sun lowers itself across the late-year sky. People begin to notice something stirring beneath the rhythm of their everyday life.

For some it is anxiety that suddenly has a sharper edge, a quicker heartbeat, a louder presence. For others it is a deep tiredness that no sleep can soften, a weariness that settles into the bones rather than the muscles. Many find themselves caught in a rush to do more, fix more, become more, as if the world is asking for one final surge of effort before the year dissolves.

Some feel a quiet emptiness they cannot name, a hollow space that opens inside them without warning. Others drift into numbness, a soft floating sensation, or a gentle pull away from themselves and the people they love, as though life has slipped one step sideways and their emotional footing has not quite caught up.

These experiences can feel sudden, but they are almost never born in a single moment. They are the accumulated notes of a long emotional song, played week after week, until the melody becomes heavy in the nervous system. They are the body whispering the truth of what it has carried while the mind stayed busy, needed, hopeful, determined or simply distracted.

They are the year asking to be felt. And the body, at last, beginning to listen.

The nervous system holds more than we realise

Across the year, most people carry layers of responsibility that are invisible even to themselves. The emotional labour of caring for others. The mental load of remembering everything. The pressure to perform, to keep functioning, to be the one who holds things together.

Research in neuroscience shows that the brain monitors and manages stressors constantly, even when we are not aware of them. This cumulative activation shapes the autonomic nervous system, the part of the body responsible for threat detection, energy regulation and emotional balance.

Throughout the year, the system adapts. It keeps you focused when you are tired. It keeps you steady when emotions swell. It holds tension so you can get through work, parenting, relationships and life’s ongoing demands.

This is not failure. It is survival. It is the brilliance of a nervous system that works endlessly to protect you.

But protection has a cost. A cost you rarely feel in March or July. A cost that often arrives in November, when the body anticipates and senses space to finally integrate what it has been postponing.

Why November and December feel different

From a psychological perspective, the end of the year creates a particular kind of environment:

There is more reflection. More comparison. More pressure to “finish well.” More social demand. More financial intensity. More sensory load. More expectation to be cheerful, grateful, present or at least functioning.

At the same time, there is less emotional bandwidth. Less routine. Less rest. Less mental clarity. Less tolerance for small stressors.

This opposing movement creates what I often describe to clients as a psychological collision. The momentum of all you have carried meets the body’s natural pull toward slowing down, processing and releasing.

The result is not weakness but friction. And friction often feels like anxiety.

Anxiety during this season is a sign that your body is integrating, not failing

Integration is a biological process. It is the nervous system’s way of sorting through the emotional and cognitive material that accumulated across the year. It is how the body digests experience.

The process of integration can feel like:

heightened sensitivity fatigue irritability overthinking emptiness restlessness emotional waves numbness a sense of internal unravelling

These sensations are uncomfortable, but they are meaningful. They are your body moving from holding everything together to letting something go.

The paradox is this: We feel the most anxious not when things are chaotic, but when the nervous system finally has room to notice what the chaos cost.

High-functioning adults and teens often feel this the most

The people who feel this end-of-year shift most intensely are often the ones who appear the most in control. The reliable ones. The steady ones. The problem-solvers. The ones others depend on.

When the system starts to release tension, it can feel unfamiliar. It can feel like vulnerability. It can feel like something is “wrong” when it is actually something incredibly human: the nervous system returning to itself.

What helps

Three therapeutic principles make a significant difference during this season.

1. Name what your body is doing

Anxiety softens when we understand it. What you are feeling is your system integrating a year’s worth of effort. Not weakness. Not failure. Processing.

2. Reduce emotional friction

Lowering expectations, slowing the pace and allowing micro-rest creates space for the nervous system to settle. This looks like ten quiet minutes, a walk without your phone, or saying no to a commitment that drains you.

3. Connect rather than withdraw

Humans regulate through connection. Sharing your internal experience with someone you trust reduces nervous system load and restores balance.

How The Self Centre can support

At The Self Centre, we work with people who are often high-functioning on the outside but quietly overwhelmed on the inside. We understand the subtle patterns that build across the year and the emotional toll that can surface at its end.

Our psychologists support clients through anxiety, burnout, emotional numbness, responsibility fatigue, relationship strain and the complex intersection of stress and identity. We use evidence-based therapies like CBT, EMDR, DBT, schema work and trauma-informed approaches to help the nervous system settle and the mind feel safe again.

If this season feels heavier than you expected, you do not have to navigate it alone. Book now for your complimentary & confidential intake call with Clinical Psychologist Lyndsay Babcock Sometimes a single conversation creates more clarity than an entire year of coping.

Your nervous system is telling the truth. We can help you hear it gently.