A close friend of my boyfriend bought a new boat on Saturday and invited us out to the lake on Sunday. I found out about it at the last moment on Saturday and was irritated that my boyfriend begged that I go with them. I'd been having a rough couple of weeks at work and had to work six days this week. I felt like I needed to stay home and relax on Sunday, my only day off. I eventually caved in and decided to join them on their boat ride.
When I got into the boat, all of reservations about going just disappeared. For once I just sat, relaxed, talked with friends, drank beer and ate delicious barbecued food. I was living it up. I didn't even think once about work, or any other worries. I felt so happy and carefree--until the boat engine died, that is.
We were floating in the middle of the lake when the engine died. Soon we flagged down some people on jet skies and asked them to tell the park rangers that we were stuck on the lake. We settled in to wait for them to come help us. Hours passed and we floated closer and closer to an area of jagged rocks. We didn't have an anchor on board so we knew that it was inevitable that we were going to hit the rocks.
I started to panic. I panicked not because I thought that we would be hurt. I started to feel completely stressed over the fact that the boat was going to be damaged by the rocks. I voiced my panic to my boyfriend and friends and told them that I was starting to have a panic attack. Obviously none of them have had a real panic attack because they started to egg me on and tease me a bit. I told them repeatedly that a panic attack is a physical reaction and that it can escalate. They laughed and teased.
Eventually I went crazy. I had a complete fit, screamed at my boyfriend and jumped fully clothed into the water. I had tight fitting yoga pants on and as soon as I hit the water my pants immediately became large and loose. My pants fell down around my ankles and I could barely swim because my feet were tangled. I struggled to pull up my pants because I was afraid that everyone would see that I had thong underwear on. Finally I pulled up my pants and someone pulled me into the boat.
As soon as I got out of the water, the shock of jumping into cold water and having my pants fall off just shocked me back into reality and the panic attack was gone. I laid out in the sun and just watched the boat float into the rocks. My boyfriend and his friend jumped out and stood in the water for hours, trying to keep the boat away from the rocks. And then lo and behold the engine eventually turned on and we headed back home. What a day!
