Your panic attack(s) may have been triggered by an ongoing source of stress in your life. Lifestyle stress can wear down your mind and your body and put you at risk of a panic attack.
If it’s those nagging things on your to-do list dragging you down, hauling yourself out of that stress spiral and getting them done will help immensely. Whether you need to take a day off work, come up with a new productivity strategy, enlist help, etc. do yourself the favor of reducing that ongoing stress. It’s worth the work for the relief in the end.
Throughout this article, I will recommend hiring a professional to help. This will probably sound extravagant, unnecessary, or ridiculous. Fight that assumption. Finding ways to reduce lifestyle stress is huge, and it’s worth the effort, time, and money it may require to get a little bit of extra help.
If lifestyle stressors are a consistent issue for you, consider talking to someone like a life coach or a therapist who specializes in helping people set and manage goals.
Relationships
If there is a relationship in your life that contributes to your anxiety, you need to change the terms of that relationship. If you’re dating someone who is emotionally abusive, fights with you all the time, creates more tension than peace in your life, or otherwise contributes to your anxiety, stop dating them.
If you have a family member or roommate who consistently makes you feel anxious or triggers your panic attacks, consider changing your living situation. Moving out or cutting off toxic people is difficult in the moment, but worth it for long term peace. If logistics are preventing you from leaving, consider having a friend or professional to help you find a new place to live, help you move your stuff, or look into breaking your lease.
Home environment
If you have a messy house, piles of undone laundry, an ongoing maintenance issue, or something else that just creates little spikes of stress every time you have to see or deal with it, get it taken care of.
It is often worth it to hire a professional to help you if a task has gotten overwhelming. There are companies who can help you clean up your space, finish a project, make repairs, etc. Splurge on just sending a heap of laundry to the cleaners. Hire a professional cleaner or organizer. It might be more than you’re used to spending on something you could do yourself, but giving yourself a “clean slate,” figuratively or literally, can be really healing.
If you can’t or don’t want to get professional help, ask for friends to help you. It’s often easier to clean up someone else’s space. Reach out for support, offer to buy them pizza, have a cleaning party — whatever works for you and your friends.
Commitment & pressures
If you generally feel overwhelmed by life, trapped in your never-ending cycle of commitments and deadlines, this can make anxiety stack up to the point of causing a panic attack.
Think honestly about whether there are ways to reduce the pressures on you. Can you ask someone else to bring coffee and snacks to book club this week? Adjust your budget so you can work fewer hours? Schedule non-negotiable “you time” into your day?
A life that is burning you out is not sustainable. Do what you have to do to reduce whatever stresses contributed to your panic attack, even if it means letting go of some commitments, saying “no” more often than you’re comfortable with, and satisficing.
Financial or legal issues
Whether it’s debt collectors calling you, an expired drivers’ license, unfinished tax paperwork, or something else, financial or legal issues weighing on you can create tons of background-radiation anxiety.
Tasks like finishing paperwork, paying bills, and going to the DMV can feel totally overwhelming, especially if you’ve let them go long enough that they become major sources of anxiety. But making a plan and executing on it is the only thing that will make you feel better, so do what you need to do to get it done.
Again, there’s no shame, and a lot of benefit, in getting a professional to help you. Make an appointment with your bank or a financial counselor to get your finances back on track. Hire a TaskRabbit to sit on hold with the insurance company for you. Contact local lawyers or accountants. The relief of having someone sit down with you and definitively solve the issue is often worth the cost.
If you don’t need or can’t afford professional help, enlist a friend to help you solve the problem. Ask someone to help you make a list of what you need to get done. Bring them with you to the bank or the DMV. Remember that something that carries tons of emotional baggage for you is just another errand for someone else.
Work environment
If your work environment is what’s wearing you down, you don’t need to sacrifice your mental health for the sake of your job. Talk to your manager or HR rep about what’s bothering you — a toxic coworker, a difficult schedule, etc. Most workplaces would rather do their part to help you avoid burnout than deal with a constantly ill and stressed out employee.
If your job is deeply unhealthy for you, or if it’s unemployment that’s causing your anxiety, enlist help in finding a new job. You can find professional coaches to help you with your resume and job search, or you can reach out and ask your friends and family for help. Some areas also have free job counseling services, so try searching for those.
Physical health
If your anxiety is often caused by feeling bad about your body, or feeling bad in your body, consider hiring a personal trainer to help you work through some of the things that are bothering you. You may want to focus on improving your posture, feeling more confident in your body, etc.
Consider also getting frequent massages, acupuncture, manicures, or other services that let you relax and be cared for by someone else. Many beauty schools and massage schools offer low-cost treatments, and some spas offer special discounts on certain days.
Increasing positivity
If there’s something actively causing you anxiety, get rid of it! But if you’re generally unhappy with something missing from your life, you can work to add positivity and relaxation.
Join a Meetup group, get some plants, embark on a project or hobby, get a pet, make an online dating profile, check out hiking trails or restaurants near you — anything you need to do to give yourself something to enjoy, to expand your horizons in a way that brings peace and happiness.
This article is part of the “So You Had A Panic Attack” resource guide. Go back to the SYHAPA index page
