Don’t Panic: Tips on how to tame your fears during an adventure

The National Geographic Adventure Blog recently posted an article entitled “Deep Survival With Laurence Gonzales: How to Control Panic”.  The article raises some important points about the effects of panicking and how it may help or hurt you during a threatening situation.  An excerpt from the post:

“Panic was really useful to us once. We have inherited the structure and function of our nervous system from ancestors who lived in a very different environment, where simple, automatic actions were required for survival. A form of panic—running away or fighting without thinking, for example—was apt to keep them alive more often than not.”

These types of life or death situations are especially common for adventure travelers who are fond of rappelling, mountain climbing, whitewater kayaking, or other high-risk activities.  Certainly some impulses that elicit a quick reaction would allow you to avert disaster. That’s not always the case, however:

“But when that quick action also requires logical thinking—when, for example, you’re breathing underwater using a complex apparatus—it can sometimes incapacitate us. Remember, the higher the emotion or stress, the lower the ability to think in a step-by-step fashion. There are three important steps to take to suppress panic: Breathe, organize, act.”

This advice makes sense, especially for a usually nervous person like myself.  I’m reminded of a hiking experience during the rainy season where I slid from a rock and kept sliding downwards, certain to plummet to my death.  Although I was initially scared, I tried to keep my cool and focus on my surroundings.  This allowed me to be aware enough to grab a big branch, stopping me from falling.

But how easy is it to apply that advice in real-life situations?  When the initial panic sets in, it takes a lot of willpower to calmly think to yourself, “Breathe, organize, act.”  It’s like your mother telling you to “act naturally” the second before you meet a childhood hero.  It’s just counter-intuitive.

This is where the final point of the article matters.  It states that repeated exposure to scary situations will help prevent panic attacks in the future.  This is supported by some psychological studies which say that 30-second to 1-minute exposure to feared situations helps people overcome their phobias, allowing them to attack similar situations more logically.

Have you ever had moments of panic during your trips?  How did they help or hurt you?