Assignment 8 - Aislinn Langley

Writing Territories
Fears: not making an impact, constant irrational fears (what if this bridge collapses? what if i get shot? what if my house burns down? what if I can't stop worrying about things I can't control?)
Annoyances: the patriarchy, people who hum, people completely misinterpreting a book or movie, people who say "I just had a panic attack" without actually knowing what a real panic attack is.
Accomplishments: working, getting into chamber orchestra, not crying as much as I want to
Confusions: why do we drive on a parkway and park on a drive way? also economics
sorrows: the willing societal oppression of women, the american public education system
dreams: owning a personal library and just a cute lil house in general
idiosyncrasies: I scratch my hands when i get extremely anxious or angry
risks: going of on people when i'm stressed, not sleeping when i'm stressed, not taking care of myself in general. stress.
Beloved possessions, now and then: Beloved possessions now would be my violin, preferred copies of favorite books, guitar, and cats. do cats count as possessions? or employers? Beloved possessions then would probably be some books and stuff, i don't know. wasn't a sentimental kid.
problems: i have a problem shutting up sometimes. and I have problems with people, but that's high school.

(expanding on an annoyance)

"So I had a ton of homework last night, right? I spent three hours on history and then an hour on math and then I was up until 2 doing that essay. And now I have a presentation next hour and I'm totally having a panic attack."
The above statement is something we've all heard at some point. High school is stressful and people handle stress badly. We hear the term "panic attack" so often that we have grown to define it as a brief period of intense anxiety and stress. It's getting to the point that people don't actually know what a panic attack is.

A panic attack is not being really stressed and feeling faint.
A panic attack entails hyperventilation, nausea, abdominal pain, uncontrollable crying, uncontrollable shaking, heart palpitations, cold sweats, dizziness, chills, hot flashes, lack of reasonable thought, potential of going into shock, etc. Depending on the severity, you're supposed to go to the hospital after a panic attack.

I've had a couple panic attacks. I was home alone when I had my first one. It was terrifying. I had spent about a week working on a lengthy summer assignment (Into Thin Air, I'm looking at you), and had 7 or 8 solid pages of work when my computer crashed. Everything gone, no backups, no time left in summer between work and travel to start over. I tried and tried to reboot my computer, but as it kept failing to start, I began to sob. I was completely lucid as I fell to the floor and started hyperventilating. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't stop crying or hyperventilating, I couldn't move, I felt like I was dying. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.

And yet you people talk about their "panic attacks" all the time like it's no big deal. You're trivializing a terrifying occurrence and I can't stand it. Please stop.