Have you ever stepped into the shower, ready to enjoy a few relaxing minutes of warm water, and then spent the entire duration of your shower ruminating about something else?

I was herded along to a blood donation table where I laid down and got comfy. They stuck me with the needle and I watched myself drain into a plastic bag.

How in the world can I begin to dismiss the non-meaningful messages from my body and only focus on the meaningful ones? How can I even tell the difference?!

I understand that a rapid heartbeat is a normal part of panic. But it feels so abnormal and wrong. What if this is the one time where a medical emergency is presenting itself?

Instead of stopping, I’m going to try harder. After all, I really want to re-wire my brain and all of my negative thought patterns. Like, really. Like, I’ve-been-panicking-for-nearly-two-years-straight-now really.

Earlier this week, I wrote about how Panic About Anxiety was chosen as ‘Blog of the Week’ on PA Live!, a lifestyle program local to northeastern Pennsylvania and broadcast on WBRE-TV.

And now, you don’t just have to take my word for it — I’ve got video proof! Check it out here.

I sincerely hope that it brings a few folks within the viewing area to my blog — especially my posts about my own struggle with anxiety might help someone to feel a little bit less alone.

This is probably the right time to tell you a story about one of my last grad school classes: Intercultural Communication. After a semester of learning about various cultural traditions and value orientations, my professor took a few minutes at the end of our very last class to discuss something personal: living in the moment.

It was May, and graduation was right around the corner. The class was filled with undergraduate seniors and second-year grad students — most of whom were about to be finished with school forever.

His speech went a little something like this:

I was honored to be chosen as this week’s PA Live! Blog of the Week on WBRE-TV.

How do you cope with the sting of having a panic attack after a long period of panic-free living?

There’s only one rule we’re following here on Panic About Anxiety for National Poetry Month — we’re writing haiku. A haiku is a short & simple poem that’s written 5-7-5 — five syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the middle, and 5 syllables in the last line.

That’s it. The rest is up to you.

What do you have to say about anxiety? Can you work it into a haiku?