The world is suddenly spinning around you. Your chest tightens. Your mind is too loud with thoughts that are making it hard for you to even swallow or take another breath.
Worse, you are in a public place and are acutely aware that people are starting to watch.
Should you give in to the panic or do what you always do: smile and walk, pretend you’re the most grounded person to ever walk on this planet.
Inwardly, you begin to wonder if there is something wrong with you. There are a lot of people who face immense challenges and are still able to go about their day and be productive. So why not you?
Finally, it is time to seek help. But the problem is extensively minimized. It’s just an anxiety attack, you don’t really need medical help. It’s not like an open wound, oozing blood, unable to stop, potentially susceptible to infection.
It’s just your mind, opening up deeply hurtful memories exactly at the moment you are stressing about finances, relationships and much more. There must be an easier way to handle this without seeking professional medical help.
So off we go, searching online for helpful tips that you are certain, will help keep that panic and anxiety at bay. These things are easily manageable, you will convince yourself.
5 things to ground you. Okay…that sounds easy.
You’re in the grocery aisle, panicking about the inflated prices and whether you will be able to afford next week. The whole point is to move from internal conflict to external stimuli. So let’s do this!
5 Things You Can See…
Not the price labels of course. That just sends in a wave of panic.
Okay, one of them would be the other shopper, staring at you as if something is wrong with you. There is but you’re not about to confide in a stranger.
The other is the crying kid. Too loud. Panic rising. Calm down.
You divert your focus to the floor where some kid spilled milk. Perhaps the same crying one?
Then there is the staff member in a bright vest coming over with a mop.
How many have you got? 5?
Okay, moving on.
4 things you can touch.
You touch your skin. It is cold and clammy.
You touch your clothes. It is soft and calming.
You touch the shelves. Metal.
And then finally you touch your hair. It’s thinning because of stress but still there.
3 things you can hear.
The kid from before is still crying and throwing a tantrum.
The parents are scolding him.
A phone rings nearby. The voice of a sobbing woman as she talks about her breakup.
2 Things you can smell
Your own sweat. You’re sweating like crazy.
Someone passes you by and you can smell their perfume. It’s too strong. It’s making you gag.
1 Thing You Can Taste.
You’re close to throwing up. You can almost taste the bile. It’s sour.
You briskly walk out of the grocery store.
So much for the power of 5 grounding techniques. All it did was make you even more overwhelmed.
So, what is the point of Counting to Five?
It’s a technique that sometimes works. It’s supposed to be a distraction but most times, all it does it trigger you even more.
When you are having a full-blown panic attack, counting to five doesn’t seem like a solution. You just want the anxiety to stop. You want the pain to stop. You want the hurtful memories to go away. And most importantly, you want your problems to simply vanish or resolve on their own.
Looking for 5 things is asking for too much at that point. Maybe a therapist can help you find that pause to be able to let in the grounding technique to do its job, but until then, it’s hard to help yourself in a world spinning with chaos and fear.
Count to Five may be as effective as an over the counter medicine. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it is ill-advised when taken without any knowledge of how to use it.
But the breathing technique…maybe that’s the way to go?
What was it again? Breathe in for five seconds…
On second thoughts, let’s leave the numbers out of this.
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