I had dinner with a male friend the other night and he opened up to me about the anxiety he was facing. More women seem to experience anxiety but men certainly do too. On the surface he appears as a very successful salesman but inside he suffers from a ton of anxiety. Now a single father of three girls, his job entails a ton of pressure and he constantly pushes himself to be more and more successful. I’m sure men do feel a lot of pressure to provide but when he told me that he silently suffers with violent panic attacks when at home by himself I knew I could help him.
He now has the girls 50% of the time and hates that his family is broken apart. He tries to bring stablity to the girls and wants to be the best dad he can be but there’s no question, it’s hard being a single parent. When he doesn’t have the girls he is working hard trying to meet his quota. He hates that his self esteem takes a dive if his numbers are down at work. He constantly measures his value by how much he sells. When sales are up he’s really happy but when sales are down he’s down too. You wouldn’t know it to look at him, he appears very confident, handsome and self assured. He attends many social functions, charity events, has several good friends and a very nice home. But he admitted those quiet nights at home can be terrifying. The thoughts that swirl around his head are “what if I lose it all?” He came from a very poor upbringing and worked hard to be where he is but with sales it’s never a sure thing. The thought of losing it all sends him straight into panic. He feels sick to his stomach and gets so wound up that he told me on several occasions he has literally trembled with crazy thoughts going through his mind like “what if I die?”
I have to admit he was a little hesitant when I introduced the Panic Away program. Although he told me he wanted to deal with it by himself, he couldn’t answer when I asked him if he’s done anything to try and conquer his anxiety . With the Panic Away program helping thousands and thousands of people I reassured him and asked him to just give it a try. He said to me that he’s exhausted from all of the anxious thoughts and finally is at the point where he really wants to deal with it and is willing to take the steps to do so, fantastic!