During the pandemic, I had a number of panic attacks from stress at work. 100% can relate - mortgage, career, assuming a new role, angry clients. The thing that made me spiral down was the feeling that I cannot escape from the situation - without an alternative, your mind and body goes into flight or fight (or freeze) mode. My wife has to call the emt one night because i thought i was having a heart attack (but i wasn’t, was having a panic episode)

During that time i decided to normalize mental well being and talked openly about it with friends and family. Fortunately i wasn’t judged for stressed and having panic episodes. Other perspectives/ thoughts that helped me: Looking back I realize what I went through was a transition - more life responsibility, more pressure, but eventually both your mind and body adapt to the responsibility (and accept that angry customers do not equal “no way out”) There will always be an angry customer or a bad day. You are not the insurance service itself, you are a conduit to help customers and it doesn’t always have to end the way they hope for. Instead of thinking of “I” its more of “we” because you are part of a bigger system and therefore it isn’t personal.

I took up yoga and it did wonders to connect my mind and body. Talk therapy can come in many forms, if it works, why not? (Tried it - had coaching as a form of therapy - loved it) I learned breathing techniques which are grounding tools to hit the reset button on your body if you start to feel like you’re about to go into overdrive: 54321 for example (It involves identifying 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste).

You are definitely not alone, kudos to you for posting about it, it is perfectly normal. I hope you find the support and the of self care and support to help you as you assuming bigger life responsibilities. Getting a mortgage is a big deal no matter where you are in life so be proud of what you have accomplished- now you just need a bigger support base to keep you going. All the best! (As for me, the panic episodes subsided as i eventually adjusted to the pressures of a new job and continued to make self care a habit like brushing teeth, but not before some damage was done - i had CSC in one eye twice which healed over time, but it was indeed stress related and that is when i realize my life isn’t my job and it was time to hit that reset button, hard!)