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How a Person with Panic Disorder Panic Shops for a Pandemic
Not very well
As I left Aldi on Friday morning, intending to stock up on food because it would be my last chance before the kids went on spring break, I was in a full-blown panic.
I don’t function right in panic mode. You would also never suspect I’m in full-blown panic mode because I’m high functioning like that. I can be boiling over underneath, and pleasantly chatting with the cashier, and joking about my weird purchases.
Mostly, I went there for a bag of plums and lunch meat for lunches.
I was not expecting a line of people at 8:30, waiting for the store to open at 9.
It was the most packed I’ve ever seen it. It certainly beat out the “stock up before the predicted winter storm” shopping.
I was nervous walking through the first two crowded aisles. So.many.people. I could feel the anxiety trickling and percolating off of them. It started to permeate the air and flow into me.
I hit the toilet paper aisle just as a lady in a jogging suit ran in, pushing people out of the way, and snatched up the last full carton of 4 packs of toilet paper, leaving two 4-packs that were in an otherwise empty aisle.
