That’s the question, isn’t it?snoringdog wrote: ↑February 13th, 2023, 2:57 pm I'm curious, now that you've come through this panic attack / breakdown, what you might have done to alleviate the severity, had you known it going in?
I think, and I say this with all sobriety and solemnity, I could prevented/mitigated/alleviated this breakdown by having lots more fun in life.
I let my soul die a little. Day in day out, for years. That adds up.
Said another way: the breakdown came on very slowly, until it came on all at once.
Later, when it became a question of “when, not if” (which was almost certainly late last year), I could have alleviated/mitigated it through such excellent resources as you shared, above. Wim Hof breathing, exercise: it wouldn’t have prevented my rapid descent but it would have made it a little less steep.
I also consider the Swiss Cheese Model:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model?wprov=sfti1
I was crushed, morally, by any number of concurrent mishegases, which had they not arrived within so few hours/days of each other, I might have navigated without falling apart.
Said another way, a perfect storm of (1) a dying soul (2) bad habits and (3) an unbelievable run of bad luck were more than I can handle.
Having survived to middle age, many times my “Swiss cheese” of preparation, smarts, and good luck saved my bacon. This time it couldn’t. It was time to go down.