Answer to Panic

Ever have a panic attack? I have. It's not fun. It is not fun when logic goes out the window and is replaced by what feels like boundless fear. It is not fun when you feel as if your world and all the order within that makes you feel life is under control appears to disappear. In my case, fortunately, I have had a very few what I would consider panic attacks. None lasted long and I was able to regain my balance pretty quickly. I feel badly for others, however, who may experience such emotional breakdowns more often and then have difficulty pulling themselves out of them. It is not a good place to be.

The other day I was in a bakery where I witnessed a toddler in a carriage experience a panic attack. He was with his older brother and their mother. The brother was walking around looking at the decorative cakes and pastries while the mother was busy picking out breads. The toddler lost track of them and suddenly did not know where they were. Judging by the look in his eyes and frantic way he began twisting in his seat to try to spot those with whom he was with, particularly his Mom, there was no doubt his limited world was crumbling around him. The anguish in his cry left no doubt that this young man was very much in a panic mode.  

All of us experience times of uncertainty even to the point of making us feel on-edge. What's the answer? What is the ultimate calming salve? Information. The more it is shared with us the more stable we feel. Even when there is no new information, telling people even that is most helpful. Information is the ultimate answer that keeps us from losing control much like that child in the bakery. If the Mom had kept him abreast of her whereabouts then he would have been fine. I share these thoughts as a reminder to all professional communicators because it is they who are often the providers of information to which we all rely.