"Panic...

...and you are lost!!!"

I'm not sure my father or grandfather said those exact words to me.  But it was the gist of several comments from them.  I remember my grandfather telling me to remain calm around bees.  My dad, well, he shared advice on staying calm quite often.  The underlying theme was that you need to keep calm so you can deal with the situation--by yourself, without needing help from others.  The under, underlying theme was it's a man's responsibility to keep his head in any situation (while the girls and girly men panic).  My dad was just a bit old-fashioned and very German.  :P

Sexism aside, his advice about not panicking was actually helpful.  Starting when I was very young.  For example:

In the 3rd grade a class field trip fell through at the last minute.  Since we already had the bus, the teacher decided to take us to a park to play and have a picnic.  The specific park she chose had a very cool replica of an airplane.  You could sit in the open-air cockpit and pretend to fly or you could crawl through tubes in the wings.  I took  a turn in the pilot's seat and then wiggled through the right wing.  I decided to try the left wing.  I made it halfway through the tube, then got STUCK.

I was stuck in a tiny, freaking, metal tube!!!

I felt a brief surge of panic.  It lasted about as long as a gasp.  Then I could hear my dad's voice, telling me I had to figure out what to do.  I crossed my arms in front of me (to make my shoulders narrower) and used the tips of my sneakers to push forward and out of the tube.  Freedom felt very, very nice!  If I'd panicked, who knows what sort of emotional damage might have occurred before I was rescued (he wrote while twitching, shuddering, and twitching again).   :P

When you need help, remember no one is closer than you.  Help yourself when you can.  (I think I made that up--please don't tell me if you've heard it before)  Unlike my dad, I know we can't always control our reactions.  But if you can avoid panicking, it will only help you. 


PS - I wish my S-I-L (who called me screaming hysterically, as if she was driving off a cliff) could have taken a breath and remembered it was possible to turn around at the next highway exit when she realized she had missed her turn.  She had been driving for 20 years at the time. Instead she scared years off my life over nothing.  Nothing!!!

Ooops. I forgot.  She's a girl, it's okay for her to panic (according to my dad).  LOL!!!