The first time I had a full-blown panic attack, it was in the lonely hours of the morning. I was sitting on my couch at my college apartment and all of a sudden my heart started to race, my left side started to go numb, I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. I felt out of control and scared. It soon passed, but after that I found myself short of breath every time I spoke. I was tired all the time – I used nicotine to calm my nerves – afraid that this uncontrollable ‘attack’ would happen at any time. I saw a doctor who used the words ‘Anxiety Attack’. Up until that point, I had never thought of myself as an anxious person – after all, I was the one that ‘handled’ everything for everyone else. RED ALERT! The doctor put me on a small dose of medication, and told me that I needed to talk things through with a professional. It’s been a few years since I’ve had a panic attack. I can finally speak of my journey as a thing of the past. I have taken several different steps to get here. Here are the one’s that had the most lasting effect:
1. I started to learn more about how our bodies were created to deal with stress.
2. I got professional help to deal with the situations/things that were making me anxious.
3. I started to learn more about myself.
4. I surround myself with good people.
5. I talk and write to get thoughts, situations, and ideas worked out.
6. I decide that every day is a blessing!
Over the next few posts, I want to share with you what I have learned on my journey. I hope that this could be helpful to anyone else who has suffered or does suffer from Panic or Anxiety.
karynrufus.com 
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