The 5 Stages of an Anxiety Attack

Hey guys, remember that time I went to the dentist?

Well, when I was there they found 4 tiny cavities, which I had to go back and get filled.

Guess when that happened?

If you guessed today, you get a gold star!

Before and during, I had a lovely little anxiety attack.

That gave me the idea for this post.

Without further ado...

The 5 Stages of an Anxiety Attack

(As told by a very anxious person)

1. You start to worry.

Whatever is giving you anxiety is going to start working its way into your brain. For example, I was getting ready to go to the dentist and thinking "I hate the dentist. I hate the dentists. I hate needles. I hate mannequins. There's mannequins there. There's going to be needles." On and on and on. You keep psyching yourself up, even if there's nothing really to be worried about. (Logically, I know there's no reasonable reason to be worried about the mannequins. And I've had cavities filled before...I know the needle isn't bad.)

2. Your body starts going crazy.

A variety of things starts to happen. Your heart starts to race, which freaks you out even more. Your breathing starts to become shorter and more difficult. (If you're not careful, this could lead to passing out. Been there, done that. Thankfully not today.) You may start to tremble a little bit.

3. You start to cry.

I was talking to myself, psyching myself out (See #1). I said "I hate needles." out loud and instantly started crying. I wish I was kidding. I felt so pathetic. 

4. You feel like throwing up.

If you're lucky (or unlucky...depends how you look at it.) you actually will throw up. But either way, you're going to feel like throwing up. Which is going to concern you even more as you try to combat the nausea and what-not. 

5. You want to dig a hole and die.

A. Because you seriously want to do ANYTHING other than the thing that's giving you anxiety. Literally anything. I would have ran 5 miles if given the chance. 

B. Because you feel pathetic, especially if other people notice. The people at the desk definitely noticed how scared I looked and they clearly didn't understand, which made me feel dumb.

PS. I showed Daniel this picture and he really wants to get me a t-shirt with it.
(They exist..but have been discontinued. It was a Teespring campaign)