Terror in the mind

You grab you car keys and you start driving to school. Suddenly you realize that today is the day that you have that math class. The math class with 213 people. Your stomach starts to feel weird. You are getting all anxious. You are trying to talk yourself out of it, when you also realize that you are running late. You know what that means. You will be walking in to class late. You are going to walk into class late and all of those 213 people are going to look at you.
It is happening again, it is happening again, uh oh, what should I do, everyone is going to look at me, I must look weird right now, uh oh, I can’t breath, I am going to have a panic attack. And guess what… you have a panic attack. Now you are ashamed of yourself for having a panic attack.
Let’s pause… Lets go through this scenario with the thoughts you should try and have.
“ You grab you car keys and you start driving to school. Suddenly you realize that today is the day that you have that math class. The math class with 213 people” : I am going to school. All those 213 people are also here to learn. No one is going to stare at me. I have the option of putting headphones on and walking in to class. That way my mind will be distracted from all these thoughts.
“You are trying to talk yourself out of it, when you also realize that you are running late. You know what that means. You will be walking in to class late. You are going to walk into class late and all of those 213 people are going to look at you.” : It is okay if i am running late. a lot of people run late to class. In a way it will be good because everyone will be focus on the teacher and no one will notice you walk in, and even if they do, there attention will be straight away drawn back to the teacher. I don’t have to make eye contact with anyone. Next time I will make sure to leave a little early so I am not anxious.
“It is happening again, it is happening again, uh oh, what should I do, everyone is going to look at me, I must look weird right now, uh oh, I can’t breath, I am going to have a panic attack. And guess what… you have a panic attack. Now you are ashamed of yourself for having a panic attack.” : I got to remember that all these feelings will go away. I got to breathe through my nose and out of my mouth, nice and slowly. I must distract my mind and focus on stretching and tensing my muscles. I must remind myself that what I am feeling right now will go away.
“To remind you when it gets tough it will be ok”
Brianne Benson
