7. What if I have a panic attack?
Let’s say you aren’t able to head off anxiety that strikes during a Walt Disney World vacation, and that anxiety spirals into a panic attack. What can be done about it? We wrote an in-depth guide to this subject previously, but here’s a few highlights.
During a panic attack, your amygdala takes over your brain, diverting energy away from other parts of the brain and body to get ready to fight, flee, or freeze. That’s why the symptoms of an attack can feel startlingly physical—it’s because something physical is taking place in your brain and letting that process pass can take time.
Remember those breathing exercises we mentioned? Despite the fact that they may not feel that helpful in the moment, they really do make a difference in helping the brain and heart to start to settle. Here’s one potential breathing pattern to try:
1) Breathe in slowly through the nose for about 4 seconds, letting the air fill your lower belly.
2) Hold the air in for 1-2 seconds.
3) Exhale through the mouth slowly for 4 seconds.
4) Wait a few seconds before taking another breath.
5) Repeat
“One thing someone might do at [Walt Disney World] is to start looking for hidden Mickey's, count the number of Mickey ears you see, or count the number of tiles on the ground. Another technique is to name 5 things you see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can smell, 2 things you can feel, and one thing you can taste. Another grounding technique is to count backwards from 100 by 3's (100, 97, 94), or say the alphabet skipping every other letter (A, C, #...).”
While retreating to a quiet place to walk through these steps can be helpful, there is also a good argument to be made for doing what you can to “ride out” anxiety attacks. Try not to completely withdraw if possible—in this case, bolting from the parks entirely. There is a difference between a strategic retreat to regroup yourself and full on flight. In my case, I found there were long term benefits gained by enduring through some “exposure therapy” and withdrawing enough to get my brain grounded, but not completely running from the situation. If you have to go, that’s all right—these things take time—but there are benefits if you can learn how to process anxiety in the midst of a situation. Some of the quiet places we mentioned earlier can provide good examples of places to get grounded.
Remember Disney First Aid remains an option for a strategic retreat if things get really intense—let the nurses know if you have a history of anxiety and just need to time and space to walk through it.
8. Adapting vs. Reacting
This statement really changed things dramatically for me when it came to overcoming anxiety: “Bad things feel bad, and that’s okay.”
Wherever there are human beings you will find conflict—conflicts of values, ideas, even just accidental human-bumper-car moments where people all are trying to occupy the same space. There is no way you can gather as many human beings as you generally find in a theme park and not encounter conflict. Particularly in the midst of a pandemic, we’ve seen some pretty troubling cases of conflict increasing in startling new ways.
And yet, it’s okay.
There are times you are going to experience unexpected circumstances, unexpected conflict with other guests (even something as innocuous as, “Oops, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you”), or moments where our expectations aren’t met. Those things are no fun, and it’s totally normal that they feel bad. Bad things feel bad, and that’s okay. They’re going to happen sometimes—we can’t control that, but we can choose how we respond.
Anxiety and instinct is going to want to react to tense situations and things that feel bad—it’s like the movie Inside Out again. Anger, Sadness, and Fear all start wrestling for control. If we react immediately to things that go wrong, we’re liable to say or do something we will regret, and that can create new situations for anxiety to fester. It’s entirely based on external circumstances.
Instead, there’s a certain power in acceptance of these situations. We can accept that bad things feel bad, that’s okay, and then adapt to it. We can take a breath before saying something we’ll regret to family or a cast member. We can step off to the side to read the menu even if someone in your party wants to go faster—they can wait even if they get salty. You are not responsible for their feelings—you are only responsible for you. We do what we can to treat people with kindness and courtesy, to follow rules and honor others, but you are responsible for your own choices, not everyone’s feelings. You learn how to not sweat the small stuff, to exercise patience, to adapt.
There are so many things that used to stress me out at Disney parks that no longer phase me because I’ve learned how to adapt. I almost never get frustrated with scooters and strollers anymore because I recognize they’re usually having an even harder time than I am trying to navigate the parks. If something triggers a spike of anger—like a rude guest or a change to something I value (like food quality or experiences), I’ve learned over time how to take a breath and walk it out rather than react in the moment when I’m flooded and likely to say something I’ll regret. I’ve learned to identify which encounters with crowds I can handle and when I need to stay away from a situation beyond my emotional capacity. If something goes seriously wrong on a trip day, I try to remember that I can’t read the future. The day is only wrecked if I abandon hope and don’t find a way to reassess and adapt.
Bad things feel bad and that’s okay—life has not stopped. You can do this. Have a great vacation.
Enjoy this article? Keep reading to get a glimpse into Magic Kingdom on a full capacity day… or dive with us into the cultural shift that is making things challenging for Disney cast members.
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