Whenever I'm in a tight situation, I usually work myself up.
I can work myself up over the smallest details and make those small details seem like the biggest life changing events.
It's fair to say that I feel anxious a lot and sometimes, that feeling of anxiety gets to be too much.
Although panic attacks and anxiety attacks are quite similar, there are a few difference.
An anxiety attack is often the reaction of a stressor. It's like you're at the peak of a roller coaster ride, seeing the big drop ahead of you. With anxiety attacks, you may feel fearful or apprehensive. Your heart could start to race, you may feel short of breath, but anxiety attacks tend to be short lived. When the stressor, meaning if the event that is causing the stressor goes away or you yourself physically remove yourself from the situation, you can get the anxiety attack under control.
Panic attacks don't come in reaction with a stressor. They tend to be unprovoked and unpredictable. During one, the person could be seized with terror, fear or apprehensive. The person having the attack could feel as if they're going to die, lose control or have a heart attack. Symptoms of a panic attack are chest pains, shortness of breath, dizziness and nausea.
After explaining both of those, I can say that I've experienced both of them.
I was away at a softball tournament this weekend when I had an anxiety attack.
We were playing a game to go to the gold medal championship game and I was doing terrible.
The anxiety started at the start of the tournament. I didn't hit at all, so that made me start to panic a little bit. We were pretty tight on the score board, we were only ahead by three runs and I failed two of the most important plays I had the whole weekend.
I was playing first base and I missed the first ball for an easy out and I let one go by in the dirt. At one point, I had the ball and a girl was running to home, but I waited too long to throw the ball and she was safe. I was supposed to go to first base the next inning also, but my coach switched me out. I can't blame him, he just wanted the best for the team.
I, however, felt as if I let the whole team down.
I couldn't do anything right, how could they even say good job to the person who let the run in?
I sat on the bench and one girl noticed I was being hard on myself and looked upset, so she made sure I was okay.
At that point, I was still trying I choke everything down. She sat in the bench not too far from me, but I kept working myself up because I knew that I had to go bat and I didn't hit at all this tournament.
The girl who made sure I was okay looked over at me, and before I knew it, I snapped.
I felt a ball in my throat and my stomach. I felt as if I was going to be sick, I couldn't breath properly, my heart felt as if it was pounding in my chest.
The girl came over and just sat in front of me and told me to breath while patting my leg. There were two other girls sitting next to me, but they didn't say anything. They just also wanted to make sure I was okay.
The girl stayed with me until I was able to calm myself down and she was a big help. She told me that she knew what it was like, so whether the fact that she's experienced them herself or has a friend who has anxiety or panic attacks is unknown to me.
She had to go up to bat, so she asked the two other girls to watch over me in a nice way. They didn't ask why it happened, what caused it, they didn't asked anything about what just happened. They simply asked if I was okay it or if I needed anything.
Needless to say, I was slightly ashamed that my teammates saw that, I never wanted any of them to know that I experience anxiety attacks, but in the end they found out. They didn't care, they didn't mock me. They did what teammates do and they helped me and I couldn't be more grateful then that.
Once I got back on my feet, I walked to the other end of the dugout and one girl who must've saw what was happening also asked if I was alright. Once again, she didn't ask what happened, why it happened or what that was, but she only asked if I was doing alright.
I just want to say that just because that's my story, that doesn't mean that it's everyone else's.
If you know someone who's having an anxiety or panic attack, there's many ways to help, but it will all depend on the person.
• Some people won't mind if you touch them, but for others it might make the situation worse. Always ask them before you touch them in any way.
• Don't think about what you would like done in that situation, but focus on what the person having the attack needs.
• If they ask for some space, give it to them. It's absolutely nothing to be offended about. Some people deal with them on their own and have their own way of calming themselves down, but they might feel the need to be alone for it. If they ask you to leave, you can still keep an eye on them! Don't feel as if they don't want you around because that just not be what they need at the moment.
• Ask them before you bring someone else to the situation. I know myself that I hate attention on me, especially if it's when I have an attack, so if you want to bring someone else in to help them, always ask them. Say something like "Hey, is it okay if ______ comes over here?" If they can't talk, the person might nod or shake their head. If they don't give you a reply, it would probably be best to take it as a no.
The information I received for the differences between a panic and anxiety attack is from a health website, but the bullet points are from my own person experiences.
This was a little personal for me to write about, but I hope that at least one of you will be able to take something away from it.
To all those who have anxiety or experience panic attacks and don't want to leave a comment or feel as if you dot have anyone to talk to about this, you can always send me an email at onemoregirlonline@gmail.com and I'll be there for you.
In the end, my team went undefeated at the tournament and went home with the gold and I found out just how truly amazing my teammates are.
One More Girl, no longer online
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