A Panic Away member describes how she overcame her fear of travelling on a three hour drive to Washington. Christine used Panic Away techniques to control her anxiety on this journey. 

“Getting ready to leave Friday evening, I started to get really nervous about our three hour drive to D.C. to visit my fiance’s sister and her fiance. I even started to shake and sweat a little towards the beginning.

But this time, I was able to use PA’s techniques and not let it escalate. I sat in the car and took note of my sensations, and tried to embrace them as best I could. Then I told the panic to do its worst. And I trusted my body to take care of itself. And it did! The panic symptoms faded about 45 minutes into the car ride.

Now that I understand my panic symptoms I am able to ride them out better. Before, the panic would only escalate, until the point where I’d be paralyzed in the car, crying from the panic. And getting to my destination didn’t usually make it better, I’d have general anxiety throughout the whole trip. But this weekend I was able to enjoy everything we did! We saw the monuments, went out to dinner, went to a busy food expo among hundreds of other people, and took the metro (which used to make me feel claustrophobic). And it felt so liberating! It was SUCH a confidence booster.
I was afraid I’d never be able to have a normal trip again but I am! And next weekend I am flying to Florida and after this weekend I am starting to really look forward to the trip….whoo!”

Christine used the 21 second countdown four simple steps to control her anxiety by observing, embracing, demanding more, and trusting.  Congratulations Christine!  There is no stopping you now, we are all rooting for you on your next journey.

Do you have a success story? Please share it with us in the comments below!