The only thing that has blunted my panic attacks are herbs - Ashwagandha and Holy Basil. These herbs bring me calm and help me stay relaxed when my mind is in the right place.
Our life in the creation of our minds....so the first thing to do is make sure you're eliminating toxic thoughts that can cause anxiety and spur panic attacks. After that, the herbs can be of tremendous helps without the harmful side effects of benzodiazepines.
I think he means to just try to avoid stress. The way I do this is--
A) Avoid situations which I know will be stressful. Not all situations that are stressful are harmful in the long run, though. For me, meeting people is stressful, but it pays itself off as if you're lucky enough to come off as likable you may have new friends, which will reduce your stress. People who socialize have been shown to live longer and be happier, according to Richard Restak in his book "Think Smart."
B) If you're troubled by something stressful (which has already occurred), I find it best to locate the exact thing that is stressing you and why it's stressing you. If it's an exam coming up, I try talking it over with people and venting. This has helped me a lot. I'll recant Think Smart again, where Dr. Restak recommends asking yourself these questions:
"Am I going to allow this experience to determine the course of the rest of my life? Or am I going to take control of my life? What can I learn from this experience?"
He goes on to say:
"Mentally reformulating things in this way will increase your feeling of control and protect your brain from stress-induced damage. This is important, since loss of a sense of control is the main contributor to the stress response. No matter how stressful the situation, if you retain control of your attitudes and responses this along will lessen your stress--even if you can't affect the situation responsible for the stress."
Couple quotes:
"Not being able to govern events, I govern myself."
-Michel de Montaigne (useful for stressful situations)
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it. This you have the power to revoke."
-Marcus Aurelius (had to remind myself of this today)
Again I'll tout Alan Mulally. Ford was headed for bankruptcy until he came in and he's done a magnificent job. Ford avoided the bailout and is now actually turning a profit. Without him, the company would be in the same spot (likely worse) as GM right now. I think he makes $10M a year, and he deserves every penny of it.
I was surprised when Woz said on Bloomberg TV that him and Steve aren't as close as they used to be. He said that he's been finding out this news by reading like everyone else has. That's kind of sad to me. I would of thought they'd still be close friends.
It's hard to argue that there's anyone better than Steve's vision. But Steve also did some cost cutting when he took over Apple (when it was a few months away from bankruptcy).
We all know what Steve would have done if he took over Ford:
1) Elminate all models with the exception of a few. Alan sold off Land Rover, Aston Martin, Volvo and a few others. He also closed Mercury.
2) Take those models and offer one or two different versions of it and offer it in two colors--black or white.
3) Put an emphasis on design. You'll notice that Ford's cars are now much more diverse and much more attractive.
4) Focus on reliability. Again, Alan did the same thing with Ford. He took the engineers to consumer reports and had them scrutinize their reliability right in front of the engineers.
I hope I'm making a point. Steve would of likely did the same thing Alan's done at Ford. Alan would have likely did the same thing Steve's done at Apple. Maybe not quite as good as Steve's done it, but very similar.
Check out Alan Mulally. I think he's an underrated CEO. While he is an engineer, I still admire his business acumen. I would think (and I know I'm going to get criticized for this) he might actually be better than Jobs. If not, it's 1A and 1B. Steve is in Alan's class, not the other way around.
You must view Alan's body of work and what he's done to turn around a company from the very bottom to where it is today. Totally different brand image. He's done it twice.
Since I don't work for a startup, I spend most of my weekends wishing I was working on/in a startup. I have few friends, so when I'm not doing anything productive I feel mentally awful and occasionally get chest pain. So weekends are pretty tedious for me.
This isn't your standard answer, but I figure I'd give you a perspective from someone on the outside wanting to get on.
I'm very desperate to join a startup as an intern or employee. Some of us (me) have been dreaming (literally) about being in a startup that it doesn't matter what we do, as long as we get in one. It's gotten to the point where I would even pay to be in one. What I get out of it is that I will see if a startup is right for me, and at this point that's all I can ask for.
Most people don't want to spend any extra money on things that they won't directly benefit from.