how to get through an anxiety attack.

Feeling excessively anxious can be debilitating and having a full-blown anxiety attack can feel fatal. If you experience frequent attacks or are afraid that you’ll have one use these 3 proven tips to help you get through it.
 
1) Remember, the attack may feel scary, but it’s not dangerous.

​Having an attack can be very frightening. It’s critical however, to remember there is nothing about an attack that is life threatening or physiologically dangerous. The anxiety model teaches us that our body cannot withstand high levels of anxiety forever and eventually our body will in fact work towards re-establishing balance. Allow your body the time it needs to recover. Don’t rush it.

2) Let it happen.

Whatever you do, don’t try to stop the attack from happening. If you try and stop it you likely increase your chances of having an attack. It’s like a child throwing a tantrum. The more you force it to change its ways the more aggressive and out of control it gets. When ignore the child, or pretend like it doesn’t bother you, they quickly calm down and return to normal. Give yourself permission to let it happen. The more you “go with it” the faster the attack will come to an end. 

3) Watch and wait.

Wait for the feeling to decrease in intensity by allowing the anxiety attack to happen. I know that sounds a little backwards and kind of terrifying, but let’s use the child and tantrum example again. If you run towards a child in the middle of a tantrum they’ll likely kick you, bite you, or blow your eardrums out with high pitched screeching. If you just watch the tantrum at a safe distance, almost like a movie, and wait for the child to naturally calm down, you save yourself the pain of forcing the child to stop an act that’s usually fueled by the attention it gets. So, now that you have these 3 proven tips, what’s your plan for the next attack?