Posted by fallsfall on December 4, 2003, at 6:34:21
In reply to Panic around impulses, posted by kara lynne on December 4, 2003, at 0:16:17
Kara,
I think that this is one of those "You have to sit with the feelings" things. You can sit out the panic, and you will feel better later. You just need to trust that the panic will go away and you WON'T die. Maybe if you can create some kind of ritual for yourself that you can do when the panic comes. A comfort, or a distraction, or both? I put on a velour shirt this morning because it is soft and today is going to be a panicky day for me. When I feel stressed, I can stroke the soft on my sleeves and it helps me calm down a little. I need to find my rabbit's foot - that is my fiddle toy that helps me calm. You might want to get a deck of cards and play solitaire - but use a real deck, not the computer because the process of shuffling and reordering the cards can make me feel like there is order in the world. I know some SUPER easy solitaire games that involve a lot of card movement, and very little brain. Maybe I'll try that this morning, too. Coloring geometric shapes with colored pencils is also stabilizing for me - I have geometric coloring books, but sometimes the designs are too complex and I have to make too many decisions on what color to use. So I just get a blank sheet and I make my own pattern by adding one shape at a time to my blob of colored shapes.
I think you need to make a plan that says that you will wait the panic out - that you know that it is there, but that you know that you can get to the end of this episode. Find some calming/control kind of activities that you can engage in. And know that you'll get to the other side. Tell yourself that you can do it. If you don't quite believe it, then tell yourself that *I* know you can do it.
Thanks, Kara, for helping me think this through. I'm a bit panicky myself because I'm going to talk about my old therapist in therapy today. And tomorrow, somehow, I have to play Mrs. Claus at the library.
P.S. We should have left 10 minutes ago to take my daughter to school. She is late, but I'm not yelling. I have enough stress this morning. She'll just have to be late. She has a study hall first period anyway.
poster:fallsfall
thread:286413
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20031124/msgs/286434.html