During the time when the anxiety was at its worst, I was raising two girls alone. Every night I would read a bedtime story to my youngest daughter before she went to sleep. One night I was suddenly stricken with a panic attack while reading her a story. I struggle unsuccessfully to stay in the moment.
Just a few minutes later…
I stop reading and tell my daughter that mommy will be back in a minute. I go downstairs to be alone and try my best to work through it. The panic is increasing. Fear and dread rush in.
I am losing my ability to concentrate. It’s difficult to manage the panic and fear. My breathing becomes very quick. I find it difficult to breathe. My thoughts race out of control. I want to go somewhere but there is nowhere to go. Feeling trapped I search for a sense of reality
I pace the living room floor back and forth over and over praying for it to end. Anxiety, panic, and fear rock my world.
Suddenly, a piece of me comes to reality, I remind myself to breathe.
Little by little I relax my breathing
The panic is subsiding as quickly as it came. It lasted only about twenty minutes but seemed to linger longer.
In the aftermath of the unpleasant panic experience, I am exhausted.
With panic and fear subsided I can now live again. I grab the moment and finally go back upstairs to my little girl.
Tears well up into my eyes when I see her sleeping peacefully. She patiently waited with a book in her little hand for me to return. I walked to her bedside and took the book from her tiny little hands. I tucked her in and turned out her light saddened she’d waited so long.
The anxiety intruded in many precious moments. I always kept inside of me a hope that there was a future beyond the anxiety.
Cope with hope and believe there is a future beyond anxiety. Click To Tweet
It has been 19 years since that evening. When a panic attack resulted in the bedtime story that didn’t get read. Since then I’ve walked a long road of healing. One that took me through many hills and valleys and finally changes that heal.
My hope for a future beyond anxiety began to become a reality. The more I surrendered the pains of my past the freer I felt on the inside.
Friends don’t give up. No matter what you are facing in your life today there is hope, help, and healing. The anxiety you may experience today does not have to be your future. There is life beyond anxiety. A new story for your life awaits you.
We can all live a life that reaches far beyond our fears!
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- How to Calm Yourself During a Panic Attack - August 12, 2023
In all honesty,I got your sincerity in your message. I thank you for writing it. The candor is priceless. Thanks Cori. I really enjoyed reading this.
BTW, I was also impressed at the features in your website. It was so calming to the senses. I loved visiting. I wish mine could look like that one day soon.
I know I have a lot to learn.
Thank you all the way around.
I Wish You Miracles.
Hi, Selma thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment.
Appreciate your kind words about my site. Blessings to you! 😀
Very dramatic. Very moving. Masterfully rendered intimidate account of anxiety. I can’t imagine what hurt you more, the anxiety or your awareness of its impact on yours and your children’s life. I’m glad and relieved that you found healing….
Thank you, Sturm, for your kind words. It was both living with anxiety and its impact on those around that hurt equally. I’ve come to realize though it was my blessing in disguise in so many ways. Ultimately anxiety was only the symptom that came as a result of underlying life issues. It was because of the presence of the anxiety that I made changes that heal. 😀