I went through a very stressful phase in my early 20s when I suffered from panic attacks. At the time, I thought I was the only one who had this problem. Working with so many actors over the years, I’ve now come to discover that it’s a pretty common phenomenon for young adults navigating their worlds of new independence, figuring out who they are, and what it is they want to do with their lives.
So don’t panic! It’s normal.
But at a deeper level, panic attacks can actually show us who we are. And how much we aren’t allowing ourselves to simply be.
The prototype: Control freaks who aren’t gentle with themselves and who put their own needs and health on a back burner in order to achieve externally. In their minds, success or perfection equals love.
Sadly, that equation never adds up. The energy being given to perfection—having it all together, not making mistakes, not allowing yourself to be human—actually becomes repressed energy that ends up finding its way out.
It’s almost like our feeling self is saying, “You continue to choose to ignore me so I’m going to now let it all out so you’ll have to deal with what I’m
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