Panic Attacks: Through

Hello my angels!

"The Best Way Out Is Always Through", Robert Frost

I've talked about my struggles with anxiety before, and even written a few piece about the best ways I have found to keep this disillusioned fear at bay, but I have never addressed the topic of panic attacks directly. 

And there is a simple reason for that: I just didn't know how to make them stop

Even to this day, I am mostly panic-attack-free because of medication, not because I became a zen guru overnight. Unfortunately I was born a high strung lunatic, and that's probably not going to change anytime soon. 

But if I've learned anything at all about dealing with anxiety attacks, it is simply this:

If you are having a panic attack, have a panic attack.

Don't try to hide it, don't try to make it stop in its tracks. 

The Best Way Out Is Always Through.  

I don't know your life, or the way your anxiety manifests itself.

A great tattoo Miley, but during a panic attack,
that's like being told
to stop having a seizure. Pic from

But I know that for me, when I start to feel the rising tide of panic build in my brain,
I try to stop it.
I try to take deep breaths.
I try to focus on something else.
I try to detract the attention away from me.

But I also know that for me, every time, without fail, this only makes it worse.
My deep breaths make me hyperventilate.
My fidgety eyes change directions so many times that I get dizzy.
My weird attempts to stop the panic only draws attention to the problem.

I'm not saying that your anxiety, your inherent feeling of discomfort and fear, is good, no.

If you don't have to go into the water, swim far out into the ocean, don't.
But once the wave hits, don't try to get out of its embrace.
Let it wash over you, don't waste your energy on trying to swim away, or hating yourself for the wave's crashing upon you (as you can see from my ridiculously extended metaphor, that shit is not your fault, it's nature).

This quote by Robert Frost gets me through life.
A "bad" day coming ahead, a dark time in one's life, an awkward moment in class,
when it comes to time, there is no out, but there's also no going back in,
 you just have to get through it.

I hope this helps at least one of you in a time of crisis.
No self loathing, no fighting a losing battle, just survive.


Have a lovely week my pumpkins!


PS: One of my favorite anxiety reducers is watching booktubers!
My fave this week? Ariel Bissett.
Awesome, Canadian, Book Nerd, Well-Spoken, Fellow Curly Haired Lion
Check her out!
http://www.youtube.com/user/ArielBissett