In the face of escalating competition, followers are increasingly susceptible to anxiety. In this regard, an important approach that might help to alleviate anxiety is to express it to the leader. However, it remains unclear about the intrapersonal effects of follower anxiety expression on follower task performance. Building upon the self-concordance model, we posit that follower anxiety expression enhances task performance through both individual (i.e., recovery level) and social (i.e., leader empathy) resource pathways. However, this positive effect is offset when followers have higher trait narcissism due to the incongruity between their anxious expressions and grandiose personality tendencies. Our pre-registered two-wave, multi-source survey study data involving 273 leader-follower dyads from China largely supported our hypotheses. Theoretical contributions to emotional expression, SCM, narcissism, and leadership literature are also discussed.