What Anxiety in Midlife Women Can Look Like For a long time, I think we’ve had a very narrow picture of what anxiety is supposed to look like. We think panic attacks, hyperventilating, or being visibly overwhelmed. And yes, anxiety can look like those things. But anxiety in midlife women can also show up in quieter ways that are easy to brush off or blame on stress, hormones, lack of sleep, or just being “busy.”