Hi all. New here so hope this is the correct spot to post. My fiancé and I are planning a trip for October. Lately, I've been experiencing major panic disorder. Even being in the doctors office I had a major panic attack and he almost sent me to to the ER.
It's sad to think I can't live a "normal" life because of this.
I always think of Disney as my happy place but now I'm so scared to get on a plane and be away from home for a week. Wondering if anyone else who experiences extreme anxiety and panic can relate? What did you do to get through. What did you do before your trip and during the trip if an attack happened?
"Normal" is a setting on the washing machine.
Please don't let that define you. I'm not "normal". Never really have been, and sure won't ever be in the future. That's OK.
My mom was a Special Needs teacher, and she told me once that
everyone has something. Everyone - every human on the planet - has something "wrong" with them. It might be that they have a hard time with math. Maybe they are dyslexic. Maybe they are color blind. Maybe their legs don't work right. They don't have a sense of humor. They can't remember a joke to save their life. They have no sense of direction.
It doesn't matter - no one is perfect. Everyone has "something" Some people just hide their "something" better than others.
So don't let your "something" define you.
Both my DH and my DD have anxiety/panic issues. What works for them when we are planning a trip is to slow down. Stop, and really think about the trip ahead. Don't try to "microplan" and schedule every waking moment, but simply think about each day, what park(s) we might visit, what & where we want to eat, how that day "looks" overall. Then, they do a self-check to see how that plan makes them feel. What needs to be adjusted. What could be changed, or eliminated, or added to create the most possible comfortable day - and week - and trip - for them.
We plan. We plan some more. And then, of course, some of our plans have to changed along the way. That's OK, because by then we have identified possible other scenarios for that day (What if it rains? What if it's too hot? What if it's too cold? Too crowded?) and we implement them. I keep a note in my phone for each day, with a list of the possible "other" stuff we can do, so that in a moment of anxiety, we have a possible concrete plan to fall back on.
Sometimes, we have to fall all the way back to the Resort. That's still not a bad thing. We're at Disney World!
Disney World is your happy place - and I hope with all my heart that you find a way to go, and be comfortable on your next trip.
