Get a Grip!: Control It With Humor

I was fifteen years old, and home alone at night- something that never happened, because I had so much anxiety about people breaking into my house. My parents were at a friend's house with my little brother, and would not be home for an hour or two. I took the situation as an opportunity to be brave and prove to myself that nothing would happen to me if I was home alone at night by myself. I turned on every light in my house and went upstairs to play on the computer.

A few minutes later there was a knock on my door. Most people would just go answer it, right? Instead, my heart started pounding, I couldn't breathe or move, and I convinced myself that someone was trying to get into my house. I stayed upstairs at my computer, praying that they would go away. After knocking for a few more minutes, they did. I was so incredibly relieved. I went back to my computer, and heard the car leave my driveway.

About five minutes later I heard another knock at the front door. I automatically panicked and called my parents, hysterical. The person at the door was pounding and pounding and would not stop. I was crying, and calling people to come and see who it was, because my anxiety had convinced me that it was someone trying to hurt me. There was no thinking logically at the time. I felt a little better knowing that my parents (as well as my friend's parents) were on their way, and I finally heard the car pull away again. Three more times I heard the car pull in and out of the driveway, and each time, whoever it was came banging on the door and would not stop. Finally, my parents arrived, and the car pulled into the driveway for the 6th time. My father ran over to the car, ready to hurt whoever had been pounding on the door all night. Inside was a 17 year-old pizza delivery boy who had been given the wrong address. He kept driving back and forth to a pay phone...and every time he spoke to the family who was actually expecting the pizza, they would say, "We're sorry! We didn't hear you knock. Come back, we'll open the door this time."

Anyway, this night is now known as "The Pizza Guy Night." My friends and family always know to call before they visit or else I will go into hysterics as I did that night. It's really funny to look back on in retrospect, and this is only one example of how people with anxiety can use humor to control certain situations. For example, if someone were to knock on my door at night when I was home alone now, I would remember "The Pizza Guy Night," laugh, and open the door.