""your consciousness gets so strong it actually leaps out of your mind entirely. It starts vibrating your body. It shakes meat and bone." My colleague Scott Stossel reviewed the book this week, writing that anxiety can make "rays of sunlight come through my eyes and get in my chest, and I feel like I'm gagging on them." Your stomach might feel like it's falling through the floor; your vision might blur; you might appear glassy, paralyzed by fear."
"Lai's Cannon is very different stylistically, but it also attempts to communicate what panic feels like and how one might start learning to live with it. Its protagonist, Lucy, is a line cook in 2017 Montreal who manages her anxiety by running and biking while listening to soothing self-help tapes that remind her to focus on her breathing. Her best friend, Trish, calls her "Luce Cannon" (Cannon for short) as a joke: She's known to be steady, reliable, and contemplative."
A panic attack can feel like the end of the world and can involve sensations of consciousness leaving the mind, body vibrations, and physical shaking. Anxiety can produce imagery of rays of sunlight entering the chest, gagging sensations, falling stomach, blurred vision, and paralysis. One story follows a teenage boy in 1990s Chicago suburbs who experiences debilitating panic attacks and researches the Greek god Pan for meaning. Another follows a Montreal line cook named Lucy managing anxiety with running, biking, and self-help tapes while coping with caregiving, workplace harassment, and strained friendship.
Read at The Atlantic
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