I was asked, "Why do I get panic attacks when I'm anxious about an important task?"

Anxiety is a normal, natural human emotion like anger and joy.

Anxiety attacks or panic attacks are not ‘normal.’ They generally happen in individuals who don’t see anxiety as a normal human emotion but as a symptom of some mental disease to be avoided at all costs.

Here are some facts to consider:

1. We only get anxious about things we care about. You can use this as a roadmap for your best life or avoid everything that makes you nervous and rob yourself of the life that would most satisfy you.
2. We all have a choice: Face our fears or avoid them. Have fewer choices or more. Choose comfort or take a risk. Expand our world or watch it get smaller to the point where we’re afraid to venture outside our bedrooms. (I promise I’m not making this up. That’s where this goes.)
3. Understand that your anxiety exists to protect you. It lets you leap out of the way when a car comes at you at 120 MPH. It does that by increasing your adrenaline level.

Guess what? That adrenaline also helps you well in interviews and when performing on stage. It makes you come across with both energy and enthusiasm.

People with anxiety disorders rob themselves of this advantage because they see anxiety as a symptom, like nausea or joint pain, to be avoided at all costs. 

Mistaking normal, healthy anxiety for a symptom can cause panic attacks.