My Story
Several years ago I experienced a panic attack while driving down the freeway with my family in the car. I had to pull over and let my wife drive. It was a very embarrassing time for me to say the least. Even worse, I started experiencing anxiety every time I drove with someone in the car.
When I finally had had enough, I decided to do something about my problem. Using imagery, I sat in my favorite comfortable chair at home and closed my eyes. I called out to the anxiety monster and told him he wasn't going to bother me anymore. I focused my thoughts and began daydreaming about taking a drive with my family on the freeway. I tried to make it as real as I could in my mind. Admittedly, I had trouble staying focused at first. I could …show more content…
Traffic around me was moving pretty fast and I was going with the flow. I came up on a long curve in the freeway and had to slow a bit because of my speed. At that moment, guess who showed up. If you guessed the anxiety monster, you would be right. My first reaction was to hit the brakes a little harder than I should have. My wife actually looked over at me and asked if I was okay.
I was so unprepared at that moment to experience anxiety that it actually caught me off guard. But that's how it usually happens isn't it? It often shows up when you least expect it to. At that moment, I actually felt a full blown panic attack coming on and my first thought, as it had been in the past was to pull to the right shoulder. I slowed down and moved into the slow lane and then I remembered all the practicing I had been doing. I suddenly realized what a great opportunity this was going to be for me to actually calm myself in the face of a real panic …show more content…
But, unfortunately at this moment, she actually became a distraction for me. You see, as I began to control my breathing, the next part of the process was to calm my mind. The problem was, my wife sitting next to me in the passenger seat was staring at me and began asking me if I wanted to pull over and let her drive. She was doing this because she was trying to help me, but in fact it was distracting me from being able to calm my mind. I told her to give me a few minutes, but within those few minutes she asked me several times if I was okay and if she needed to
Several years ago I experienced a panic attack while driving down the freeway with my family in the car. I had to pull over and let my wife drive. It was a very embarrassing time for me to say the least. Even worse, I started experiencing anxiety every time I drove with someone in the car.
When I finally had had enough, I decided to do something about my problem. Using imagery, I sat in my favorite comfortable chair at home and closed my eyes. I called out to the anxiety monster and told him he wasn't going to bother me anymore. I focused my thoughts and began daydreaming about taking a drive with my family on the freeway. I tried to make it as real as I could in my mind. Admittedly, I had trouble staying focused at first. I could …show more content…
Traffic around me was moving pretty fast and I was going with the flow. I came up on a long curve in the freeway and had to slow a bit because of my speed. At that moment, guess who showed up. If you guessed the anxiety monster, you would be right. My first reaction was to hit the brakes a little harder than I should have. My wife actually looked over at me and asked if I was okay.
I was so unprepared at that moment to experience anxiety that it actually caught me off guard. But that's how it usually happens isn't it? It often shows up when you least expect it to. At that moment, I actually felt a full blown panic attack coming on and my first thought, as it had been in the past was to pull to the right shoulder. I slowed down and moved into the slow lane and then I remembered all the practicing I had been doing. I suddenly realized what a great opportunity this was going to be for me to actually calm myself in the face of a real panic …show more content…
But, unfortunately at this moment, she actually became a distraction for me. You see, as I began to control my breathing, the next part of the process was to calm my mind. The problem was, my wife sitting next to me in the passenger seat was staring at me and began asking me if I wanted to pull over and let her drive. She was doing this because she was trying to help me, but in fact it was distracting me from being able to calm my mind. I told her to give me a few minutes, but within those few minutes she asked me several times if I was okay and if she needed to