subject: Panic! Where Am I Going To Find Lunch? [print this page] Panic! Where Am I Going To Find Lunch? Panic! Where Am I Going To Find Lunch?
Panic attacks are almost always based on irrational fears. They are born out of lack of knowledge very often, making things seem possible, which in all probability are virtually impossible. At a more advanced stage they are no longer based on a lack of knowledge. We know that it's an irrational fear, we've just got so used to having this particular panic that we can't stop it any more.
Rational people who don't suffer from such anxieties don't realise just how "real" these fears are. How can you possibly worry about where you're going to get lunch in a big city? The place is bristling with potential lunch venues. All eager for your business, doors wide open. But, cocooned in my small-town, adolescent naivety this was a larger than life concern which kept me awake at night. Not actually in a panic, but very anxious. Just about to start my first proper job, miles away from mother's apron strings, how was I ever going to be fed so well?
"Naivety" is the operative word here; this whole anxiety was overcome by experiencing the ease with which I could satisfy my hunger pangs. Maybe I would have been better off worrying about the incessant hunger pangs rather than their satisfaction! A problem it took me another 30 years to address! But, as I said before, the fears aren't rational.
And you know better than anyone else what these fears are. Air travel, interviews, driving, open fields, people or even the fear of fearing. All irrational, but all real if you allow them to be.
So, since my first lunch in the big city, I have overcome anxiety attacks on a variety of subjects, some with great success! Meeting people, speaking in closed communities, speaking publicly: these have been some of my major areas of panic, over and above all the usual exam concerns, girl-dating complexes and the like.
