Panic Attack at Jazz Fest
Jazz Fest is a historic event with legends, locals, art, food, and, of course, music. It attracts around 400,000 people a year.
That may be too many for some.
Sometimes a crowded CVS is overwhelming, so a festival that's gated where you cannot escape the paradoxical boom of soft rock? Sometimes you're going to have a panic attack and need some tips. We're here to help. Please peruse this list, or bring it with you.
Stare at the Ground
Often when dealing with anxiety, we tell people to focus on what's around them—what they can see, hear, smell, and touch. But when that's the problem, we need to reassess. What if what you see is a sweaty dad from Ohio trying Crawfish Monica for the first time? What if what you hear is a baby crying because its tiny headphones have fallen off and its nap was interrupted by a Steve Miller cover band? What if what you can smell is body odor from the couple enthusiastically making out next to you on a muddy towel? What if, devastatingly, what you can touch is 30 individual ponytails? This might not be calming.
If you're hyperventilating and feel something coming on, try focusing mostly on the ground. The ground is beautiful when you're overwhelmed because there's no new information down there. Nothing to figure out or process—it's just the ground. Get to a spot where you can see more grass than shoes and know that's a safe place. If it's near a small tree, that's even better.
Once you feel safe with the ground, you can start adding in the other ones until you're back in your body. Now, we look. Are there teens in love? Breaking up? A mom smoking weed? Can you smell weed and pizza? Can you hear a flute?
You're going to die one day, but it's probably not today. Today, you're just here to witness people living, as well as live it yourself. Life is actually good when we can see at least 10 different examples of tie-dye. Start counting.
Get in Line
The lines at Jazz Fest are rivaled only by theme parks and polling places about to close. Are you hungry? You should have gotten in line 42 minutes ago because that's how long it's going to be before you're going to receive anything from that line. If you are experiencing hunger or thirst or any other bodily requirements, this is bad. But if you are a person having a panic attack, this is good.
In the line, you are not a person panicking anymore. You are more a tree made of flesh, an obstacle to move around, a pillar of stoicism and grace. No one is going to bother you in the line. There are no variables and nothing to perform. You are fulfilling a social contract. The line is there, you are standing on the line, and the line is moving very slowly. If you're visibly upset, people just think you're mad the line is taking so long.
Sure they're going to ask something of you once you get to the front, but that's not for another hour. You might even be hungry then. Also, once you calm down, you can leave at any time. When you step out of a line, people aren't disappointed—they're relieved. You just shortened the amount of time between them and shrimp bread or a turduckin po-boy. They're going to be overjoyed.
And, finally, the line is something people respect. They see you standing, so they go around. You don't have to think or be aware of anything but slowing your own breathing. You're safe there—you're in line.
Pretend You're Dancing
Need to do some EMDR tapping? Have a stim that calms you down? Anxiety yoga poses? Wiggling to combat a freeze response from complex PTSD? Swaying to keep from dissociating? Any weird physical thing you'd be embarrassed to do at a Whole Foods? Guess what? You're not in Whole Foods. This is Jazz Fest, baby.
There's a 65-year-old man doing something 10x more insane, and he's lucid. He's having the time of his life. You could go through an entire EMDR session and people would just think you're just a big Counting Crows fan. The worry of being perceived or embarrassed is gone because you've entered a new social environment where dancing is the norm, and everyone's doing it. Also, what qualifies as dancing is a spectrum as wide as the ocean.
The range of what humans do as dancing is very, very large—anything you would want to do mid-panic attack included. Go for it. Roll around. Trauma is stored in the hips.
Hum
Humming isn't just something bees do. Legally, humans can do it, too. Humming is calming because the vibration stimulates your vagus nerve, the main nerves in your parasympathetic nervous system—often the thing freaking out when you're feeling anxious. Humming can also lower your heart rate.
Humming is in general good. It's just hard to do if you're at the movies, in a quiet coffee shop, or sitting next to someone on the bus. But Jazz Fest is a place where humming doesn't even register as one of the sounds happening. Lucky for you. Hum away.
Now you're prepared to go to Jazz Fest. Whether you're in a state of bliss listening to Lenny Kravitz or fighting existential dread listening to Lenny Kravitz, you have a tiny toolkit of things to do to get you through if needed. Have fun, and drink some water.
