“The Hidden Trauma of Overachievement” As overachievers, we often use our careers as a way to distract ourselves from unhealed wounds and keep ourselves busy enough to avoid any real type of intimacy. In his book Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving, therapist Pete Walker writes that "many flight types perpetually stay busy and industrious to avoid being triggered by deeper relating. Others also work obsessively to perfect themselves hoping to someday become worthy enough of love. Such flight types have great difficultly showing anything but their perfect persona." When developed healthily, the flight response insures good boundaries, assertiveness, and healthy self-protection when necessary. When constantly relied on as a need for survival or an attempt to cope with unhealed wounds, our survival instinct impairs our ability to relax in an undefended state. It also dulls our awareness of our past trauma and distracts us from our feelings of misalignment. This leads to the workaholic. The person who is always "on". The Type-A personality who rushes to achieve. The perfectionist. The overachiever. This leads to constant doing, and worrying or planning when you are not doing. This leads to burying ourselves in work to avoid authenticity and vulnerability. This leads to anxiety, panic, burnout, and in more extremene cases, addiction, depression, and sometimes suicide. #trauma