Bite of Balance, Anxiety vs

The host discusses techniques for handling panic and anxiety attacks. One technique is the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique, which involves focusing on your senses to bring yourself back to the present. Another piece of advice is to think of horses, not zebras, when it comes to anxiety, meaning to assume the most common and likely cause of your symptoms. However, panic attacks can be more intense and require prompt action. The host shares their experience of reaching out to a friend and emphasizes the importance of having a mental health emergency plan, including a support system and self-care items. Hello, and welcome back to You're Always Fine. I'm your host, Lauren, and this is your weekly snack-sized anecdote on handling panic. This stems from our episode on differentiating between anxiety and panic. So here's something to chew on. First, we want to share with you the grounding technique that can help bring a bit more calm into your world of worry. It looks like this. It's called the 5-4-3-2-1 technique. And so while I may have the senses interchanged, essentially the concept remains unchanged. So it's five things that you can see in your immediate surroundings, four things that you can touch in your immediate surroundings, three things that you can hear, two things that you can smell, and one thing that you can taste. So utilizing that grounding technique can help you bring yourself back to present and mindful awareness. Another piece of advice came from a former provider who once shared with me that when it came to anxiety, think horses, not zebras. So pretend you are minding your business, doesn't matter where you are, and all of a sudden you hear a loud galloping, a multitude of hooves pounding the ground. Now what are you going to assume? A herd of horses, right? It would be almost absurd to assume it was a herd of zebras. Am I right? I mean, unless, of course, you live somewhere where there's a herd of zebras, and I guess that doesn't count. But you get the picture. And while this isn't meant to diminish your feelings, sometimes I have found it helpful that when I am in an anxiety attack to say to myself, horses, not zebras. However, this isn't so easy when it comes to a panic attack, because sometimes that pounding is coming from your own heart like it did mine. Those physical manifestations of a panic attack can present themselves in such a way that it causes you to think, oh my goodness, what the heck is going on? This is more than an anxiety attack. So things like an increased breathing rate, chills, a feeling of fear, or a very real feeling that you are dying or are going to die, etc. This sounds fun, doesn't it? No, it's not. Those feelings can be very hard to quell. And it is those times when action really should be promptly taken. I had utilized the aforementioned grounding technique, and even went as far as talking to myself out loud to say, Lauren, you are having a panic attack, you are in a safe place, and you know what to do if it gets worse. Sadly, however, my attempts weren't having the lasting de-escalation effect that I was after. And that was when it was time for me to phone a friend. I'll say this, it can feel embarrassing or uncomfortable to reach out to someone in a moment of need. Letting someone see you at your most vulnerable is scary. However, in my situation, I had two options, continue to go at it alone, or let my friends in and really see me. I chose to allow myself to let others take care of me when I couldn't take care of myself. And I am so glad that I did. My situation was the best case scenario. One, because I felt like I had people to rely on. And two, I had my emergency medication for such events. So I realized that not everyone will have the same access to the resources that I did. But just like we are told to create an emergency disaster plan, in case strife hits us unexpectedly, I want you all to think about applying that to your mental health. Start putting together, or maybe at the very least thinking about what your mental health emergency kit looks like. Does that include a list of reliable people that you feel safe with that you can call in those moments? Does it maybe include an anti-stress kit filled with self-care items? So think about that. Let me know what you think. And we look forward to hosting many more episodes for you all to digest.