Hi Gmcdrill,
I wish I knew as a young person what I know now. Isn’t that
always the way!! Yes, it was through professional help that I began to learn
about strategies and understanding what was going on. I can only talk about my
own experience and hopefully there will be something that resonates with you.
Even if it is just one word or sentence. First of all, and most important, find
the right health professional for you. Be it a counsellor, psychologist etc,
you need to identify with them meaning that you both get each other and gel.
And that may take a few goes to find ‘the right health professional’ for you.
What helped me most was group therapy. For me, it began with an extremely low
self esteem from my lived experience that caused panic attacks to escalate. I
was actually agoraphobic for many years. I’m 52 years old so there was little
help for me as a young adult. Thank God there is more help and understanding
now. But the help I did get over the years always taught me at least one thing,
one strategy. Bottom line for me, what is working is don’t give ‘IT’, the
power. Typically fear makes you baulk from whatever it is you fear. In the
natural scheme of things ‘fear’ has a real purpose. It’s a warning that ‘that’
is harmful. Like walking in front of a truck driving down the road or jumping
off a cliff or jumping into a lion’s pit. The purpose of ‘fear’ is to keep you
safe from harmful decisions or choices. “Don’t put your hand in the fire
because it is really going to hurt”. With panic attacks fear is not rational or
real. Having said that it is very very real to people who suffer from panic
attacks. But it is not ‘real’ in the sense that the ‘warning’ is not real.
There is no harm except ‘fear itself’ and how it can diminish us if we give it
power. Also another reason for panic attacks can be the body’s way of saying “Hey
you! You’re over-doing it! You’re not sleeping enough or eating well enough or you’re
pushing yourself too hard or whatever!” Time-out needed here. Truly, exercise,
a good diet and a good night’s sleep is a great base for turning things around
and helping the natural coping mechanism of your body. And most importantly,
live in the NOW. That means, the past is the past, including yesterday, the
future is the future including tomorrow. The NOW is all we ever have so live
today one day at a time, one step at a time. And be kind to yourself and do
things for yourself that make you happy be it small or big. Just something that
makes you feel valued in the moment.
Hope that makes sense.
Cheers
Suz
