Make a Safety Plan Before Panicking in a Crowd
If you panic over the crowd, you may not even be aware of it. You may just be tense or angry. (I was irritable at the farmers’ market for years before I noticed a pattern.) And some crowded places, like Times Square or an empty stadium, can scare anyone. As Dr. Liz Lasky says at Time Out New York , having a safety plan helps .
One of the main ways to break through crowds is to keep an eye on your destination. It signals your path to others and helps you focus on goals rather than obstacles.
Here are some more ways to get through the crowd without panic, combining Dr. Laskey’s advice with some of ours:
- Come to eat: the better you are hydrated, nourished, and dressed for the weather, the better you will be in control. Bring some water or a snack with you.
- Establish a meeting point: If you are traveling with someone else, agree on a destination and where to meet (outside the crowd) if you need to part ways.
- Look for pit stops: Find places where you can hide from the main crowd and catch your breath.
- Turn it off: As Dr. Laski recommends, turn on music to keep your mind busy. Try to move with the music; treat your movement through the crowd as a subtle dance. It looks silly, but it helps you relax.
- Read the mantra: TONY writer Jaime Lutz walked through Times Square chanting “It’s okay” like a cartoon dog from a meme and found it worked well. Things are not going well, and you may feel like you are hiding alive, but you do not need to be happy; you just need to get over it.
- Reward Yourself: As soon as you get out of the crowd, take a deep breath, grab a snack, and congratulate yourself. Truly remember how fun it is to plan, maintain, and get out of a stressful situation from the other side. This will help you remember to do the same next time, even if you are caught off guard.