When things don’t go according to plan

Keeping your cool seems like something

That is reserved for people with low key personalities

Who are masters at keeping a poker face.

Panic, therefore, often seems inevitable,

Linked to someone’s DNA.

But maybe panic isn’t a personality trait

Maybe its a choice.

A choice to freak out because

Life is doing what life does best:

Changing without our permission.

In the face of things not going as we hoped they would

Being overly attached to a specific chain

Of events is just as harmful as

Rehearsing the worst case scenario

Over and over again.

Maybe underneath the hyperventilating

And catastrophizing,

Is an unchecked desire to sovereign over

Every outcome.

Ironically, choosing to panic

When we don’t get our way

Guarantees us even less control.