Reasons for Panic
I’ve been around a lot of panic recently. Many people seem eager, almost glad, to be whipped into a frenzy, nervous about anything that may go wrong, might become a problem. Whatever these people don’t know immediately, they fear, and the resultant emotional state is panic.
I have decided, for my own life, that panic simply won’t do. It’s an exremely unpleasant state, and I’m not convinced you get anything accomplished that you couldn’t do in a calm and relaxed state. I have heard the argument that panicking illustrates that you care, and that others will appreciate the amount of seriousness you exhibit when an important task or problem presents itself.
However, I reject this notion. Only an emotionally needy person would demand that others react to situations in this way, would insist that a level of suffering is necessary to appreciate the urgency of something.
So,that said, I am going to establish the rules for the Legitimate Reasons to Panic:
1) You or a loved one is facing imminent and immediate death or injury, and the cause of this physical harm is something that you can trace to a concrete physical threat within a five-mile radius and can predict that the harm will occur at a time within the next 48 hours. This includes car crashes, psycho killers, stampedes, fires, natural disasters, a gun being pointed at you, etc. Notice how long-term illnesses with vague expiration dates are not included in this item.
2) You or your household’s livelihood is taken away unexpectedly and the lack of purchasing power presents such drastic immediate difficulties so as to potentially bring about #1 (inability to buy food causing starvation, inability to afford home leads to homelessness, etc.).
3) Your child or a relatively defenseless person in your care is lost or has been taken away unexpectedly. While #1 in this situation is not assured, the missing person’s inability to defend himself from whatever ills are out there makes the situation particularly dire, and the unknown nature of the threat combined with the fact that the potential victim does not have the resources to combat most assailants, justifies panic.
And really, I think all situations can either be reduced to one of these three scenarios or is otherwise not panic-worthy.
Things that are not panic-worthy (so long as they don’t lead to any of the above):
Loss of money, embarrassment, missing a plane, difficulties at work, the notion that you might be sick when you don’t have an official diagnosis from a medical professional, getting lost, feeling overwhelmed, etc. All of these things can be overcome or at least endured if you take a deep breath and remember that you are not experiencing #1, #2, or #3.
So lighten up, everybody (myself included), life isn’t so bad.
I agree, taking possible exception to one of the stipulations for #1 - are you saying that the threat must be within 5 miles of YOU, or of the person in harm’s way? If it’s of YOU, then I think that’s wrong, because if, say, one of my kids were in a car accident, it wouldn’t matter if I was 5 yards or 5000 miles away, the panic level would be exactly the same. But if it’s of the person in harm’s way, then that instance would be covered.
But yes, you’re right, panic is never helpful and rarely warranted.