There are two problems with panicking. First, it feels horrid. Second, it interferes with your thinking process and makes it much harder to be creative or even rational. By its nature, panic takes over your mind and pushes everything else out, and that’s the last thing you need when you’re facing a big emotional or financial problem. Once you start panicking you’re lost, until you can get things back under control – whether that takes minutes or weeks.

Not that easy though, is it? And it doesn’t help that panicking can sometimes seem strangely tempting, in a Fine!-I-don’t-care-why-not-just-ruin-my-life-it’s-rubbish-anyway kind of a way. There’s almost a sense of relief at giving into panic and abdicating any attempt to sort out the problem. However sooner or later that feeling will give way to misery because you’ve lost more time, you’ve given in to fruitless behaviour, and the problem is still there. So you need to know how to not panic in the first place.

And that’s the first point – it’s much easier to not panic than it is to rein yourself back in once you start. The earlier you can identify and tackle an urge to panic, the better. It is possible to stop a full-blown panic in its tracks, but why make life harder for yourself? Nipping it in the bud makes so much more sense, and to do that you need the self-awareness to see it coming.

Right, so now you need to talk firmly to yourself. First, remind yourself that you don’t actually want to panic. Next, have a regrouping session. Keep your emotions out of this – don’t permit any thoughts of ‘this is useless’ or ‘I’m a failure’ or the like to creep in. It’s your emotions that are leading you towards panic, so be rational for a bit and don’t give them airtime. You’re not trying to solve the problem immediately, so you don’t need to be in a creative frame of mind for the moment. Just stave off the panic and get back to a place from which you can make progress.

So regroup. Think through – maybe write down – exactly what the problem is. Clarify why it’s a problem, so not just that you haven’t got enough money, but specifically what problems that causes: the rent is overdue, you can’t afford the repairs on the car, you can’t pay for your child’s new school uniform. Now consider each of these in turn. Often you can reduce a complex problem even if you can’t remove it, by picking off elements you can do something about, or where help is available. In any case each issue in isolation will look more manageable than the whole.

Think about how far you’ve come and any actions, however small, that have helped. Note any partial solutions or plan B solutions that aren’t really what you want but are a lot better than nothing.

And remember that these problems do resolve themselves. Countless people can look back and say that five or ten years ago they couldn’t see their way through their marriage breakdown their nightmare job or their financial crisis, but they’re still here and those things are in the past now. Reassure yourself that even if you can’t see a solution right now, there will be one, even if it’s a bit messy for a while.