When Anxiety Makes Every Decision Feel Impossible
You're exhausted, and it's not just from lack of sleep.
It's the kind of exhaustion that comes from carrying too many questions for too long. Is this the right relationship? The right career? Are you making a terrible mistake? The thoughts don't wait for a convenient moment. They show up in the middle of the night, in the shower, in the ten seconds between putting your phone down and trying to fall asleep. Your heart races. Your body is tense. Your brain will not stop, and you cannot figure out how to turn it off.
So you scroll. You distract. You try to outthink the anxiety by running through every possible outcome. And then you wake up still exhausted, still anxious, and no closer to knowing what you actually want.
Maybe you spiral about your relationship, wondering whether the doubt means you should leave, even when you don't actually want to. You just wish someone could tell you that you're doing the right thing and that you're not making a terrible mistake.
You don't want to talk to your parents because you'd have to admit you don't know what you're doing, and they might judge you. So you carry it alone.
Your job pays decent money, but it drains you. You keep saying yes to your boss because you're afraid to say no, and now you have more responsibilities than you can manage and less energy than you've ever had. You don't know how much longer you can keep this up, or whether you even love what you do.
And then there's the bigger picture. You're getting older, and everyone keeps asking when you're going to have kids. You're not sure you're with the person you want to have them with. You're not even sure you want them. What if you regret having them? What if you regret not having them? The question has no bottom.
You feel like you're doing everything wrong. You're afraid you'll always feel like this.
All you want is to feel confident in your life decisions. To trust yourself. That doesn't feel like too much to ask. But right now, it feels very far away.
WHAT THIS TELLS ME ABOUT YOU
You are not someone who doesn't care. You care so much it's keeping you up at night. Underneath all that anxious circling is someone who genuinely wants to get it right, not just for other people, but for yourself. The part of you that wonders about your relationship, your career, or your future isn't broken. It's looking for something. It's looking for you.
The fact that you're here means some part of you knows the spiral isn't the answer. You've been trying to outthink your way to certainty for a long time, and it hasn't worked. Not because you're doing it wrong, but because certainty doesn't actually live in your head.
It lives somewhere quieter than that.
I’m Juliet Baxter, LMFT
I'm Juliet, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist offering online anxiety therapy in California for people who are exhausted from overthinking every decision and saying yes when they mean no.
If you feel like you’ve been living in a fog of ambiguity about your relationships, career, identity, or what you actually want your life to look like, you’ve come to the right place. If you've spent years trying to do everything right and still feel like you're getting it wrong, you're exactly who I had in mind when I built this practice.
For seven years, I've worked with people who have anxiety, worry, and feel disconnected from themselves. You may be smart, self-aware, and genuinely trying, but you are also running on fumes. You've been managing everyone else's comfort and needs for so long that you've lost the thread back to your own. You may not remember the last time you made a decision that felt truly yours.
I bring a deep respect for how hard it is to be a person right now, especially when messages about who you should be, what you should want, and what you should have figured out by now are constantly running in the background. I take this work seriously, and I also take it lightly. Humor and sarcasm are tools I reach for alongside compassion and empathy, because sometimes the most healing thing is to laugh at the absurdity of it all together.
I adapt a blend of modalities to what you actually need. There is no cookie-cutter approach here. Some days we explore a pattern you keep repeating. Some days we work with your body to help your nervous system settle. Some days we figure out what you actually think, separate from what everyone else has told you to think. I stay curious and flexible so the work stays relevant to your real life.
You may come in feeling like you're in a constant state of low-grade crisis, like you're one hard-to-interpret text away from unraveling. Over time, you can develop a clearer sense of who you are and what you want, feel more grounded in your decisions, and become more capable of saying no without the guilt spiral. You can feel less like you're performing your life and more like you're actually living it.
How the Work Actually Works
Online anxiety therapy in California gives you the flexibility to do this work from wherever you are, without adding another logistical stressor to your week. We meet weekly so you have consistent support while you rebuild a stronger connection with yourself. You need a place you can return to every week, where someone knows your patterns and can help you see what you can't from inside the spiral.
In our sessions, we work together to:
Explore the patterns underneath your people-pleasing and where they came from
Use somatic techniques to help your nervous system learn how to settle, so anxiety stops running the show
Work through ambiguity in your relationships and career without pressure to reach a conclusion before you're ready
Practice saying no, or saying what you really want, in a space where it's safe to get it wrong
Untangle what you actually want from what you've been told you're supposed to want
Over time, clients report building a more resilient nervous system that can handle life's stressors without tipping into full panic. They describe greater clarity about what matters to them, more agency in their choices, and less dependence on external validation to feel okay.
Therapy doesn't have to feel scary and hard. It can feel like coming home to yourself.
You Don't Have to Keep Carrying This Alone
You don't have to have all the answers before you reach out. You just have to be willing to start.
If you're tired of second-guessing every decision, saying yes when you mean no, and feeling like you're doing everything wrong without knowing how to stop, working with an online anxiety therapist in California might be the support you've been looking for.
The first step is a free 20-minute phone consultation. It's a low-pressure conversation where you can share what's been going on and see if working together feels like a good fit. No commitment required. No need to have your story perfectly organized before you call.
Schedule your free consultation: https://calendly.com/juliet-baxter/20-minute-phone-consultation
Or email me at juliet@therapywithjuliet.com
You've been carrying this long enough. Let's talk.
FAQ: Online Anxiety Therapy in California with Juliet Baxter, LMFT
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Anxiety shows up differently for everyone. Some people experience it as constant worry and overthinking. Others feel it as a pressure to always say yes, a fear of disappointing people, or a creeping sense that they are doing everything wrong. As an anxiety therapist in California, I work with the full range of how anxiety shows up in real life, including relationship uncertainty, career ambiguity, chronic people-pleasing, and that persistent feeling that you should have it more together by now. If any of that sounds familiar, we are probably a good fit.
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Yes. Because sessions are conducted online, I am able to work with clients throughout California regardless of where they are located. Whether you are in a major city like San Francisco or a more rural area, as long as you have a private space and a reliable internet connection, we can work together.
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No. Many of my clients have never been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and don't think of themselves as having a mental health condition. They just know they are exhausted, overwhelmed, and tired of feeling stuck. You do not need a label to deserve support.
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Online therapy in California works much the same way as in-person sessions. We meet over a secure video platform at a scheduled time each week, and the work is the same quality regardless of where you are sitting. Many clients actually find that meeting from home makes it easier to settle in and be honest. Research consistently supports online therapy as an effective format for anxiety.
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There is no honest one-size-fits-all answer to this. Some people notice meaningful shifts within a few months. Others find that working together over a longer period allows for deeper change. What I can tell you is that I work with clients weekly, because that consistency tends to produce real results. We will talk about your goals early on and revisit them as things shift.
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Somatic therapy means we pay attention to what is happening in your body, not just your thoughts. Anxiety is not only a mental experience. It lives in your chest, your shoulders, your stomach, your jaw. Somatic techniques help your nervous system learn how to settle, so you are not just managing anxiety with your brain while your body stays in a constant state of alertness. Over time, this builds a more resilient nervous system that can handle stress without tipping into panic.
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You don't have to be sure before you reach out. Most people who contact me are not sure. They just know that what they have been doing isn't working anymore. The free 20-minute consultation is exactly the right place to figure out if this feels like a fit. There is no commitment and no pressure.
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Yes. Many of my clients are navigating real ambiguity in their relationships, not knowing whether to stay or go, not knowing what they actually want, feeling guilty for having doubts at all. This is one of the most common and most painful places anxiety shows up. We work through it together, without pressure to arrive at any particular conclusion before you are ready.
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I’ve been told that I am grounded, warm, and sometimes a little funny. Clients often describe feeling more like themselves in sessions than they expected to. There is no script you have to follow and no version of yourself you have to perform.
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No. I work with clients of all genders, including women, non-binary and gender-expansive clients, and men. I have particular experience supporting people who were assigned female at birth in unpacking the ways that people-pleasing can be a conditioned trait (often reinforced in those raised as girls) regardless of their current gender identity.
I also have a background in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, with a particular interest in the ways cultural expectations shape how we understand ourselves and our relationships. So if you want to geek out with me about gender constructs, social conditioning, or why the rules we were handed about how we're "supposed" to be can be so damn complicated... I am very much here for that.
If you're wondering whether we might be a good fit, a consultation is a great place to explore that together.
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The easiest first step is scheduling a free 20-minute phone consultation at calendly.com/juliet-baxter/20-minute-phone-consultation. You can also reach me directly at juliet@therapywithjuliet.com. We will talk about what is going on, answer your questions, and figure out together whether working with me makes sense for you.