The Panic
What happened today to send my plans and preparations so off course? After a fairly calm, productive and emotionally stable day, I suddenly found myself having a panic attack. I felt nauseous, trapped, and out of control. My heart was racing, my body temperature was up and down, I felt shaky, my mouth was dry and nothing felt safe. I was driving down a busy road with my kids in the car, so I wasn’t in a place I could take a timeout and practice my relaxation techniques. I was in panic mode. I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. By the time I could stop and relax, I was already over the tipping point and into panic.
The Cause
What caused it? Your guess is as good as mine:
- a sound
- a movement
- a smell
- a thought
- a muscle twinge
- the traffic
- the song on the radio
- a thought
- a memory
- an idea
- something I saw out of the corner of my eye
- being over stimulated
- feeling tired
- the time of day
- being hungry
- having eaten too much or the wrong thing
- drinking too much water or not enough
- the effort it took to get three excited kids out of the house
- too many days of being out of the house in a row
- changing my medication
- not being consistent with my vitamins this week
- trying to do too much
- not meditating or journal or doing yoga for several days (or several weeks)
- doing too much exercise today
- not sleeping well
- working too much
- too much screen time
- back to school preparations
- big purchases
- or some complex combination of all of the above
Thank you for sharing. Keep up the good work xx
I love your attitude about your panic attack – that it’s not your fault, or anything to get more anxious about. I also have anxiety, and, while there are many different reasons that people develop it, I honestly have come to believe that it can be a normal response to an often overstimulating world. It inspires me to hear you handling your panic in healthy ways!
Thanks for the above reasons we can make those things hinder us every day.