Panic

In 9th grade I was taking Algebra 2. On the first problem of the first exam I drew a complete blank. I flipped through the exam and realized that if I couldn’t do that problem I couldn’t do any others either. Breathing became more difficult, my palms got sweaty, and I couldn’t really think straight - I knew I had to find a way out of the situation. In a moment of sheer genius I recalled how my teacher had made an offhand comment about her migraines a few weeks before. I went up to her desk and told her I, too, struggled with migraines and was in the midst of one now. She sympathized, as I had hoped she would, and sent me to the school nurse. While I was sitting on the school nurse’s bed and staring at the blank wall, what I had studied the night before suddenly came back to me and I knew I could return to class. I did and took the test and did just fine.

It was so easy to remember how to do the work when I felt I was safe, and I would have been hopeless had I stayed in class. My anxiety attack was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. Thankfully, I haven’t been in the same situation since, but others often are. Safety might not be easy to reach if it’s everyday life that triggers that same panic.