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This is, bite of Balance, your weekly snack size therapy sesh. I'm your host, christine, and I'm hanging with my bestie, anxiety, and we are gonna recap our episode on panic attacks and anxiety. So let's dive into the world of worry, shall we? ["worrying"]? All right, first things first. We need to untangle the messy web of anxiety and panic attacks.

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The way I break these two down is to think of them as humans. You see, anxiety is like that annoying friend who overstays their welcome at the party. It hangs around, often triggered by specific situations or thoughts. Panic attacks, though, are the unexpected guests who crash the party unannounced. They show up out of the blue and throw your mind into complete chaos. You all know those people right Now.

Speaker 1: 0:55

What that looks like is different as well, so anxiety tends to be that low-level harm of worry. In the background, you're sweating the small stuff, like the grocery list or what you're gonna wear to your great-grandma's birthday bash in four years from now, but when panic attacks roll in, they're like a thunderstorm in your brain. Your heart races, your palms get sweaty, and you might even feel like you're auditioning for a role in a disaster-moving. Mine for sure is like. I think it was called Deep Impact, but that's a scene that my anxiety always brings up. Okay, moving on to what that feels like inside, first I want to call out that every person's experience is different and valid. However, here are some of the common symptoms. Anxiety often brings along its buddies tense muscles, restlessness and an army of what-ifs. It's all about the mental game here, but panic attacks well, they're like the drama queens of your mind. They make you feel like you're on a roller coaster with no seatbelt. You might experience chest pain, shortness of breath or even a sense of impending doom. Many people actually say it feels like they're having a heart attack and they'll go to the emergency room.

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Anxiety's favorite trick is it making you worry about things that probably won't happen. Like what if I trip and fall in front of everybody at the office, but I work remote? Panic attacks, though, are more about the like, here and now, often making you think you're on the brink of disaster. Hit the red SOS button. Let me be clear neither of these are enjoyable, but it's really important to know what you are experiencing, to know your triggers, how it manifests for you and deploy the most effective coping skill in the moment to help you return to baseline.

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This week, I have two balanced tools for you to take with you For anxiety. It's all about mindfulness and grounding techniques. I really like the 5-4-3-2-1 technique and it's great for moments of anxiety attacks. So how it goes is you want to use all five of your senses and walk yourself through five things. You can see, four things, you can touch, three things, you can hear, two things, you can smell and one thing you can taste. Focusing on your senses will help bring your mind to the present moment and provide the pause needed to end the worry spiral For panic attack, but different here, because it requires a bit of like Jedi mind trickery.

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Remember, your body is literally playing a trick on you. So practice controlled breathing. Inhale slowly and exhale even slower and while you're at it, go ahead and visualize your place of peace, whether that be a beach, a lake, just somewhere you feel safe. Well, folks, we have made it to the end of our whirlwind tour of anxiety and panic attacks and I want to remind you that better you understand, embrace and accept your experiences, the more control you have. So try not to avoid or run from yourself, because you are a masterpiece, quarks, anxiety and all. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. We'll be back Tuesday with a brand new episode of You're Always Fine and we can't wait. But until next time, mind your health.