Strategies for Distracting Your Mind During an Anxiety Attack

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Despite studying a map in advance, I have suddenly become hopelessly disoriented while trying to find my cousin’s home in north London.

I’m behind the wheel, so I can’t see the signs very well, and now I’m scared! When I pass a landmark I know from only ten minutes ago, I pull over to a secure area to consult my map and try to figure out where I am.

I have tried calling my cousin but have received no response.

Even so, I recognize one of the locations and set out that way.

As I glance around, I realize that I don’t recognize anything.

My anxiety has only increased.

I pull over once more, but this time I can’t concentrate on where I am. A moment later, someone knocks on the side window. I nearly had a heart attack. When I turn to the right, I can make out somebody at the window babbling and gesturing with their arms and hands. I turn away and get back in the car to go.

I’m starting to freak out now. It seems like everyone is staring at me and pointing. What exactly is wrong with my automobile? I can make out a shape in the distance up front. Then I saw someone lying across my hood, holding my windshield wipers.

I press my foot to the floor and begin swaying the automobile. Someone has to get off my back! In the distance, I catch a glimpse of a gigantic form and quickly swerve to escape it. Suddenly, the figure on my bonnet slides to the right, and one of my windshield wipers breaks.

I continue to drive without a destination in mind. I had to get away from here! There’s a barrier in my path now. I try to wake up, but suddenly I’m sitting up straight in bed.

A reoccurring nightmare with eerily similar plot points!

Every time this happened, I awoke in the middle of the night, sweat-soaked pajamas and a panic attack.

What did I do after that?

Here are some of the things I did to attempt to take my mind off of my anxiety and panic attacks:

One method is to (a) breathe into a paper bag.

(Yes! I do have a supply beside my bed.

A time-tested approach with surprisingly positive results.

Please ensure no air is escaping or entering the bag by pressing it as close to your mouth as possible. After around 40 breaths (maybe a few less or a few more) of lovely, calm, deep breathing, you should begin to feel less worried.

Trying to Chill Out, b.

Because of the intense heat in my dream, I woke up drenched in sweat, as I indicated above. The increased metabolic rate and accompanying chemical processes within my body during a panic attack likely accounted for this.

The best way to cool down is to strip down your underwear and crank the air conditioning or fan to its highest setting. Make yourself shiver to the point of discomfort; the anxiety will fade away as your body cools. It’s incredible how well this works.

Taking a Vigorous Stroll; c.

I’d get out of bed and sprint around the bedroom, the stairs, and the living room before climbing back up the stairs. After doing this a few times, I finally felt at ease.

The ‘flight or fight reflex releases adrenaline into the bloodstream when the brain perceives an imminent threat, such as the car accident in my dream. This prepares your body for rapid action, whether fighting back or running away. It all comes down to the specific situation when deciding which action to take. I might stay and fight if it were a person, but I’d probably want to get away if it were a tiger.

But since I had just woken up and wasn’t in either of those ‘fight or flight’ scenarios, my body had a lot of unused potential energy. So, I went for a fast walk to burn off this excess energy and calm my nerves.

Suppose you engage in vigorous physical activity, such as a fast walk or a lively bike ride (having sex is excellent exercise, so I’m told!! ). In that case, you will burn up the excess energy made accessible by your brain’s activity and be free of your anxiousness (though not immediately after waking up, as in the above).

(d) I engaged in a diversionary strategy to alleviate my stress.

Occasionally, I would turn on the light next to my bed and scrupulously record as much of a dream as I could remember. The opening paragraph is a condensed version of several hours of work.

This burst of vitality helped ease my anxiety, which was a pleasant side effect.

Anxiety sufferers might sometimes find relief by engaging in a diversionary activity. You can achieve success in everything if you give it your all. One technique to divert your attention is to call a friend or play music quite loudly. There must be more examples.

Attempting to take a deep breath is (e)

Although I was still somewhat out of breath when I finished writing, I took several deep, steady breaths. After counting to five, I stopped breathing and gently let it out. About 40 times, I chanted the phrase. I had begun to feel less anxious about the situation by this point.

See, I had gotten very adept at managing the aftermath of my panic episodes. But I truly wanted to get beyond merely managing and do something to eliminate the recurrence of both the nightmares and the accompanying panic attacks.

So, where did I go from here?

I considered seeing a doctor for medication, but it might not be easy to stop once I start taking something. After considering my options, I decided to meditate in the manner proposed by the counselor my buddy had recommended to me.

While I did feel better about myself, the problem with this meditation was that it only temporarily alleviated my nightmares and the anxiety they created. I’d say the frequency of these dreams has decreased to around twice a week. I’m getting closer, but it’s still not the perfect answer I hoped for.

I was encouraged to keep meditating and told that I would eventually no longer have any dreams.

I persisted in my meditative state. Although this alleviated my nighttime nightmares, it also caused my anxiety to manifest during the day. I had anxiety attacks whenever I had to get into my car and travel anywhere. Even though I knew that if I drove cautiously, nothing terrible would happen, I still worried. It was as if the mental processes in my sleeping brain magically manifested in my waking.

My rising anxiety about driving persisted despite my best efforts at meditation. It had gotten to the point where I was nervous about leaving the house, even for a short stroll.

All the techniques I’d been using to manage my anxiety were still effective, but I wanted more than to be in charge of my concerns.

Then something happened that completely altered my course. If that sounds overly dramatic, please know that it was. One of my closest friends informed me about a program that helped one of her other friends. I realize it’s a bit of a stretch to trust the word of a friend of a friend, but she told me that her buddy had tried this program after experiencing severe anxiety and subsequent panic attacks and was pleasantly delighted by the results.

To test it out, I decided to try it. In a concise amount of time, it surpassed anything I could have imagined! Thankfully, not only did my nighttime anxiety vanish, but so did my daytime anxiety. It would be an understatement to say that I felt relieved.

If any of the following sounds like you, I highly recommend you try the program that helped me permanently and medication-free eliminate my anxiety attacks. The techniques you’ll study have helped thousands of individuals from all walks of life overcome anxiety and panic attacks. Do it; you won’t be sorry.

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