Coming Down From a Panic Wave
For the twenty minutes after panic crests, when your body is still racing and you feel wrung out. It sees you through the tail end without fighting it, and says what to do with the rest of the day.
Grounding · Panic · Grounding · 9 items · whenever you need it
The checklist
- Tell yourself it is cresting, not building — Panic climbs, peaks and falls on its own; this is the falling part.
- Stop trying to stop it — Fighting the feeling adds a second alarm on top of the first.
- Breathe out slowly, longer than you breathe in — The long exhale is what brings your heart rate back down.
- Put your back against something solid — A wall or a chair gives your body a fixed edge to find.
- Name what is around you out loud — Five things you see, four you hear; it pulls attention out of your chest.
- Let your hands warm up — Warm water or pockets; cold hands are the adrenaline leaving, not danger.
- Eat and drink something afterward — A wave burns through you, and the shakiness afterward is partly empty fuel.
- Lower the bar for the rest of the day — You have just been through something; nothing more is owed today.
- Know where the extra help is — If panic is shaping your week, a professional helps; if you ever feel unsafe, call or text 988.
Use this checklist Free account: tick items off and keep each day's record.
How to use it
Run through it whenever you need it, honestly and without scoring yourself. A checklist is a way of noticing, not a test: an item you cannot tick is information about the day, not a verdict on you. Over a few weeks the pattern of what gets ticked and what does not says more than any single pass.
With a free Theraglee account the checklist remembers each pass, so you can look back. Without one, you can still read it here and keep your own copy.