Practice Makes Perfect?

So, here's what I did this weekend: sleep in, go to the grocery and pet food store, cook, watch movies, sleep in some more and watch even more movies and tv. Wow, I was productive. Whatever, it doesn't bother me one bit! Especially since this week and weekend are going to be extremely busy. This week will be work, tennis and preparation for my trip this coming weekend to LA to visit The Swimmer.

I am already a little anxious about my trip to LA for the only reason that I hope that I don't have another massive panic attack. I know that worrying about having one won't help the situation, so that's why I'm glad that I see The Professional tomorrow. I've told The Swimmer that we should just lay low this weekend and not run around doing a lot of things all weekend in the hopes that it will keep me calm and not overwhelmed with doing stuff. We're already planning on seeing 3 movies this weekend - "Blades of Glory," "Meet the Robinsons," and "Premonition." I get to LA on Thursday evening and leave on the red eye on Monday night. The Swimmer has work on Friday and Monday, so I'm hoping that since I'll be alone all day, it will keep me from getting overwhelmed. I guess we'll see.

I ended up ordering the "Stress Eraser," the Professional said it could definitely help. It hasn't been shipped to me yet, something about there being so many orders that it's going to take longer than usual to ship out, but I think it should be sent sometime this week. Not in time for my trip to LA this weekend, but that's okay. I have been practicing some breathing techniques that the Professional said could really help. Basically, inhaling normally for 5 seconds, exhaling normally for 5 seconds, waiting 5 seconds and then starting all over again. This helps tell your body to calm down, that there is nothing wrong, as opposed to taking deep breaths which say, "Something is wrong!" and as opposed to breathing really quickly which can make panic worse. I've really been practicing, so hopefully it will help!