Mild Freak Outs and How To Deal With Them

Overall I've managed to stay remarkably cool even though I'm once again going to ship myself half way around the world for a contracted amount of time. Somedays I march around town with my chin held high as if to say in a snarky British accent "Yes, I'm QUITE the experienced traveler. I erected schools in Zimbabwe, liberated women in Iran, and fought flesh eating monkeys in Detroit."

Hmm, on a side note I've just added three things to my bucket list.

Other days I'm not so confident. These days usually result in an unusually high consumption of chocolate and a few episodes of Whale Wars mostly so I can feel like I'm not the world's most pathetic person. (God, have you seen that show? Regardless of the political message those people are awful pirates. I'm also addicted to that show and want to throw things at my TV every time they take a week break.)

And then I tell myself: Hey! People use to do this kind of thing back in the 1800s. They'd spend months and months on a boat fighting rats and scurvy so that they could land in a part of the world they'd never seen before. There was no internet, there were no air planes, there was no Amazon.com where if worst comes to worst I can order 37 lbs. of Haribo gummy bears to gorge myself on. I mean, sure, I'll have to use the occasional squat toilet, but how bad could it really be?

But there was one major difference. Those people? Those adventurers set out to discover the new world? They had guns. Lots and lots of guns. And they shot people they didn't like. I -- well, everyone reading this blog anyway -- don't really have that option, which means we have to have virtues like patience and kindness and compassion and understanding.

In spite of all this, I don't think anyone can help but feel anxiety about such a huge life change, so I've come up with three simple solutions when you find yourself mildly freaking out about, well, anything.

1. Start focusing on the good things.
Freak out example: Living on my own in my own place for the first time ever.
Freak out solution: Remember that this gives me the freedom to be a huge slob, sit around in my underwear, and drink beer in the shower.

2. Remember all things come to an end.
Freak out example: I...I have to live there for a year?
Freak out solution: I can always empty out the rest of my savings and go be a bum in Hawaii!

3. Remember to breathe!
Freak out example: OHMYGODICAN'TBREATHE
Freak out solution: Inhale.

4. Eat chocolate.

Now I can't really guarantee that following these rules are going to stop your mild freak outs, but it'll be great practice in dealing with them, and I suppose that's a simple step in retaining your composure, humanity, and sanity.