“Anxiety isn’t you. It’s something moving through you. It can leave out of the same door it came in.” ~James Clear
Years ago, I had a panic attack while driving across a bridge, and I thought I might die that day.
Suddenly my heart started pounding. My breath became shallow and tight. My chest felt constricted, and a wave of dizziness washed over me.
I was driving sixty miles per hour, and there was nowhere to pull over. The bridge stretched for miles, suspended over open water, and I was alone in the car.
A terrifying thought shot through my mind:
Something is seriously wrong.
I gripped the steering wheel and tried to keep driving, convinced I might pass out before reaching the other side.
In that moment, it felt like my body had completely betrayed me.
For a long time afterward, I was afraid to drive and lived in quiet fear of that feeling returning.
I began avoiding certain activities and situations. I constantly monitored my body for signs that another attack might be starting. Even when I appeared calm on the outside, a part of me was always on high alert.
If you’ve experienced panic attacks, you may know this feeling well.
The racing heart. The dizziness. The sudden sense that something terrible is about to happen.
It’s not just uncomfortable—it’s terrifying.
And most people experiencing panic believe the same thing I did:
Something must be seriously wrong with my body.
But what I eventually learned changed everything.
The Body Isn’t the Enemy
The first idea that really shifted things for me was this: the sensations of panic feel dangerous, but they aren’t.
They’re your nervous system sounding an alarm.
When we perceive danger, the body activates a natural survival response known as fight-or-flight. Adrenaline floods the bloodstream, the heart beats faster, breathing quickens, and muscles prepare to react.
This response evolved to keep humans alive.
If our ancestors encountered a threat, like running away from a predator, their bodies needed to react instantly. When the nervous system is regulated, the rest-and-digest response prompts the body to naturally return to a relaxed state once the threat has passed.
However, if the nervous system has been under stress for a long time, it becomes imbalanced. The fight-or-flight response is working on overdrive, and the rest-and-digest response no longer functions properly. The body doesn’t relax.
The outcome: the nervous system sometimes sounds this alarm even when no real danger is present.
This was definitely true for me. I was a single parent, living in San Francisco, running a wedding photography business (hello, super-stressful career).
I was in the car dealing with insane traffic for hours each day: A two-hour roundtrip commute getting my daughter to and from school, client meetings, evening engagement photoshoots…
I photographed weddings most weekends, leaving three to four hours ahead of time because wedding photographers aren’t allowed to be late. Ever.
Rest was something I dreamed about. I was consistently exhausted, burnt out and on edge, and there was no end in sight. So yes, my nervous system was basically fried, which meant my panic attacks became more and more frequent.
I lived in terror of the next attack.
When the body releases adrenaline unexpectedly, the sensations can feel overwhelming.
Many people interpret these sensations as signs of catastrophe.
Am I having a heart attack?
Am I about to faint?
Am I losing control?
Those thoughts create even more fear, which causes the body to release more adrenaline.
And just like that, a cycle forms:
Sensation → fear → more adrenaline → stronger sensations.
It can feel like being trapped in a panic loop you can’t escape.
The Shift That Changed Everything
My healing didn’t begin with trying to control the panic.
It began with understanding it.
For the first time, I saw that my body wasn’t malfunctioning. It was responding exactly the way it had been designed to respond.
My nervous system had simply learned to stay on high alert.
Once that understanding settled in, something subtle but powerful shifted.
The sensations of panic were still uncomfortable, but they no longer felt like proof that something catastrophic was happening.
They became signals from a nervous system that had been carrying too much stress for too long.
And nervous systems can learn new patterns.
Learning Safety Again
I realized that healing from panic isn’t about forcing the body to calm down.
In fact, fighting the sensations often makes them stronger.
Instead, the process involves helping the nervous system relearn what safety feels like.
Sometimes that looks like slowing the breath. I practice a simple breathing technique I call “four-six breathing.” You close your eyes, then inhale, counting to four, then exhale, counting to six.
The longer exhale slows your heart rate and sends a message to the nervous system: “We’re okay.” This activates the rest-and-digest response, and the body relaxes.
Sometimes it means allowing sensations to pass without resisting them. The sensations of a panic attack can be uncomfortable or intense, but they’re not dangerous. Once I understood this simple truth, it was easier to be with the sensations, knowing they came and went, like an ocean wave.
Sometimes it’s simply learning to trust that the body knows how to return to balance. Healing wasn’t an all-at-once event but a gradual process. As my panic attacks became shorter and less intense, I felt more confident, because I knew exactly what to do to care for myself.
Eventually, they went away and have never returned.
Some people believe that panic attacks can’t be cured, but I’ve found that this simply isn’t true.
With practice, the nervous system learns a new pattern and begins to recognize that the alarm is no longer necessary.
The response becomes less intense.
Episodes become shorter.
Eventually, many people find that the cycle of panic dissolves entirely.
A Different Relationship with the Body
My panic attacks were once so severe that I was afraid to drive for years. Today, I drive without fear. Road trips have become a favorite hobby and a meditative experience. This past summer I drove more than 3,500 miles around the country—by myself.
I move through the world with a sense of trust in my body that once felt impossible.
What I discovered during my healing journey eventually became the foundation of a new way of life:
Listening to my body’s signals instead of overriding them.
Prioritizing rest because it’s a key component of health.
Unearthing my own deepest wisdom and ability to maintain my energy, vitality, and well-being.
Gathering tools and practices that allow me to be peaceful and grounded, no matter what’s going on in my life.
Being the calm, confident, joyful person I wanted to be.
Because the truth is this:
If you experience panic attacks, your body isn’t broken.
It’s trying to protect you.
Sometimes healing begins not by fighting what we feel, but by understanding it—and in that understanding, the body slowly remembers how to feel safe again.
About Grier Cooper
Grier Cooper is a trauma-informed anxiety coach and creator of The Panic-Free Formula. She helps high-functioning women retrain the nervous system patterns behind anxiety and panic so they can feel safe, steady, and fully present. A former professional ballet dancer, she brings a body-based, compassionate approach to healing. Her work focuses on transforming fear into safety and helping women reclaim inner calm and trust. Download her free 3-Minute Panic Reset at GrierCooper.com.
