Today was an embarrassment! My art class was doing presentations today, everyone had to critique their artwork for the rest of the class. It was my turn, I knew what I wanted to say, and, not trying to brag, my piece was one of the best in the class. I was feeling confident for once, despite the nervousness I was struggling with. I was the last to go and when I did I made a complete ass of myself! I just had to go and have a anxiety/panic ( i'm not sure which, i've had both before) attack right there in front of my entire class! It was humiliating and I was a mess. The teacher had to continue my presentation for me while my classmates all awkwardly tried not to look in my direction. It scared my friend who's never seen me have one and was sitting next to me when it happened. It took me a while to calm down and once I did I just wanted to disappear. Everyone kept giving me weird looks the rest of class. This was worse than one I had last year during PSATs. I went to the doctors and asked then about it but they said it was nothing to worry about and wrote it off as test anxiety. However other than that I also had a break down while working on a film project shortly after that and now with the one today that's 3 in less than a year! Should I be worried? I'm doing a program in my school called IB. It's challenging and requires that I speak and participate more than I'm used to. I don't want these stupid attacks preventing me from doing well in my classes. I don't want to tell my mother about what happened today. The last time I had one she got mad at me for wasting the money she spent on the test and acted like I could have prevented the whole thing. I'm not sure what I should do about this.
You can try to do what a speech presenter always do. Practice giving a speech or a presentation. You can practice giving a presentation or a speech in front of a mirror in your bedroom. I know it feels awkward but it's a common method for a presenter to practice his/her speech. One fun way to practice is to hold a 'talk show' in your bedroom. You search or make up few questions. Jot those questions down on few index cards. Answer each question like you are being interviewed by someone. It's a method to practice fluidity in speech. You can ask your best/close friend to assist you or you can conduct it by yourself. I did it by myself. I notice that when a person being asked to do a presentation, that person becomes really worry with what the audience think of him/her. No, that is wrong. When you start worrying what people think of you, that's when everything starts to crumble. You should just walk to the stage like a boss. Present your presentation like a boss. Leave the stage like a boss. Do not care what people think of your presentation and you. You just go and do your thing. If there's a mistake in between your presentation/speech, so be it. Ignore the mistake and proceed with the presentation/speech. Remind yourself who's in charge of your presentation - You. If your heart says no because you feel nervous, do not oblige and bow down to it. Don't think. Just give it a go. Basically you have to rebel a bit. I give you one unrelated example. I have a phobia of heights. But I always tell my phobia to kiss my butt. I do wall climbing to conquer my phobia. I rode a 360 degrees pirate ship and roller coasters when I went to a theme park few weeks ago. I screamed like a girl but who cares? Okay, my friends did for a few minutes. But I was fully satisfied and felt so, pardon my language, badass after I did my wall climbing etc. You know how old school hip hop rappers like to chant, "Raise your hands in the air and act like you don't care!" Yep. Do that. Do not care what other people think. Just do you thing. Thumbs up.
I have generalized anxiety disorder and I get horrible panic attacks out of no where sometimes for seemingly no reason.. Im not going to lie to you sometimes there is just nothing you can do to stop them but you can work to stop the underlying problem which is your anxiety.. I get help and Im on medication for it.. a therapist can teach you techniques to help you prevent panic attacks and help you stop them sooner.. In regards to you mom, my parents ignored my anxiety for years until recently.. sometimes they cannot accept what they cant understand and it may take them seeing it for them to completely understand or maybe try and explain to you mom what happened and how it made you feel... maybe she will see the issue and help you out.. I wish you the best! anxiety sucks but even just getting a small support system, even just a friend to help you out makes a difference
