Pressure… How do You Deal?

Pressures of life can be down right unbearable, no pun intended. But the way we deal is all that matters. It’s all about perspective.

What are the answers to dealing with the stress?

After being in Al-Anon, I have learned that acceptance is key and the only control I have is to change the things I can. But where do we get the courage to change? How do we deal with the crippling panic that comes with stressors?

The only way to change your emotions is to change your thoughts. For me it starts with, “First Thing First.” Sit in the intense anxiety and feel it. Accept that it is real, and it must be dealt with. So how do you deal with it? The dread and panic is triggered, which spins us into a turbulent sea of negative self-talk and worse case scenarios.

The clip below is from FX’s The Bear, starring Jeremy Allen White. The pressures he faced taught him how to cope with future conflicts. However, the death of his brother and PTSD clearly made a mark in his emotional and mental health, which we see through his panic attack.

I bring this up because it awakened a solution within me for my panic attacks. In this series, White plays a chef. He copes with his panic attacks by focusing on food. This wonderful scene expresses his coping process so vividly it’s hard not to relate to.

After watching this I thought what is my security blanket? How can I use my anxiety as a tool to drive me forward with my passions? For me, it is my characters in my screenplays. I wouldn’t say I escape into my written worlds. Instead, I shift that mental energy into something creative and productive. That is the trick. It’s about flipping your thoughts. So why not flip your thoughts to your passions and see where those thoughts take you?

Please comment with ways that you cope. Maybe it will inspire someone else to change their perspective.