In college, one of my professors made me learn what type of panic reflex I have. He taught us that everyone is naturally inclined to do one of two things – freeze or frenzy. If you freeze, you’re not of much use to anyone. If you go into a frenzy, you’re also not of much use to anyone. You can learn your panic reflex though and learn how to fight it.

The first thing to do is always to take a deep breath. If you’re a freezer, after your deep breath, you force yourself to move. If you’re a frenzier, after your deep breath, you force yourself to slow down and think through your next move.

Knowing that I react to things in a frenzy helped me set up all my emergency plans at work. I knew I had to print out announcements that I could read off the page, because my mind would be moving too fast to be sure I could clearly remember a memorized emergency speech.

I knew that I was more likely to think something was an emergency, even if it wasn’t a full on emergency. I often wanted to stop things several steps before it was necessary because they were starting to feel unsafe to me (though part of that also came from being a young stage manager – you definitely learn how far you can push things over the years).

What’s interesting to me is that I’ve actually changed over the years. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more of a freezer. I know this happened partially because an astonishing number of problems solve themselves.

I know that sounds nuts. And it’s definitely not 100% of problems. But I have found that a lot of issues, especially interpersonal issues, that I would get in the middle of when I was 23, I’m not going anywhere near now. There are also a myriad of little fixes that are more disruptive than letting the initial problem (assuming it’s not safety related), just continue through that performance so you can cleanly fix it after the performance.

All that being said, real emergencies do still happen and now I find I have to take a deep breath and force my brain to start moving to solve the problem, rather than taking a deep breath and trying to calm down my overactive mind into something actually useful.

These panic reflexes apply to more than just work though. They also apply to a lot of my financial plans. When a tour fell through at the last minute almost two years ago, I went into an unemployment panic frenzy and just started applying for every side hustle or gig I could find to get me through until the next hiring “season.”

When I start to hate my job, I go into an unhappiness panic frenzy and start attacking alternative job plans.

When stocks start tanking, I feel frenzied about all that too.

And even in those moments, my old professor was still right, a deep breath is probably the best first step.

A deep breath lets you remember that historically, the stock marker is still the best place to invest. Things rebound. This is temporary.

A deep breath lets you remember that maybe today was just a bad day. Or maybe it really wasn’t and they’ve all been bad days – but if that’s the case, still stop, evaluate and really think through what you want to do next instead of careening off into another job that you’ll hate just as much.

A deep breath helps you remember all your Plan Bs (you should have a few if you work in the arts) and the fact that an unemployment season isn’t a reason for total panic. Heck, if you’ve been freelancing your butt off, maybe it’s the universe’s way of saying you needed a breather.

You don’t want to freeze in these moments either though. If your stocks are doing really bad, it might be time to cut your losses and sell them. Don’t do it emotionally though. Look at the numbers. Maybe seek some advice. Make a decision and act on it.

Don’t freeze forever in a job you hate either. Some jobs are so bad and stressful – because of the job itself or a crappy boss – that it’s just not worth it to be there. If that’s the case, make a clear plan and escape.

The same way they say “know your enemy,” know your panic reflex. Panic can cause a lot of damage, but it can also be a signal something needs to happen. Just don’t let a knee jerk reaction or failure to move ruin your life.

What’s your panic reflex?