The Feeling of Dread: Why High Performers Struggle and How to Break the Cycle
- Andre Karl Misso
- Oct 18
- 2 min read
We’ve all felt it. That tight knot in the stomach on a Sunday evening. The heaviness before a scheduled call. The low hum of unease when the quarter-end review looms. It’s not laziness. It’s not incompetence. It’s dread.
Unlike physical pain at the gym—where “no pain, no gain” can build strength—emotional pain like dread can’t be minimised, dismissed, or ignored without consequences. What we don’t address emotionally, we act out behaviourally. And more often than not, those actions spill over onto the people and spaces where it feels “safe”—our loved ones, our homes, our private lives.
Why This Matters
Dread is more than a mood. It’s a signal that your emotional and cognitive systems are overloaded. Research shows:
Executives under chronic stress exhibit 40% higher baseline cortisol levels than the general population. Over time, this suppresses immunity, accelerates ageing, and harms mental clarity.
Poor sleep, bad nutrition, and sedentary workdays create a downward spiral of burnout symptoms—brain fog, low energy, mood swings, and even chronic disease.
Loneliness and isolation increase the risk of premature death by 26%–32%.
The Identity Trap
When your identity is tied tightly to career-title-recognition-job success, you’ll protect this at all costs. Even if it means neglecting your mental-emotional-physical health or loved ones. But at the end of life, it won’t be your quarterly results, performance reviews, promotion or title that matter. The ones sitting by your side will be your family and closest friends, not your colleagues.
Breaking the Cycle of Dread
Name it, don’t numb it – Recognise dread as an emotion. Suppressing it only amplifies it.
Reframe recovery – True rest is not laziness. It is a strategic investment in resilience.
Anchor your Energy Drivers (SNMRC) – Sleep, Nutrition, Movement, Relaxation, and Connection are not “nice to haves.” They are the foundation for sustaining high performance.
Lean into connection – Harvard’s 80-year study on adult development found that the quality of relationships is the single strongest predictor of health and happiness—not money or titles.
Dread doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you’re human. And the antidote isn’t grinding harder—it’s recalibrating how you live, rest, connect, and perform.
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