Oct 6, 2026 · 49 min
Acceptance helps golfer reclaim life from panic
From Panic Attacks to Peak Performance: Aidan's Journey to Overcoming Anxiety
Aiden’s story shows how persistent fear can shrink a life—and how family support and sustained practice helped him recover independence.
- 1A car accident, health fears, grief, and panic gradually turned ordinary activities into sources of danger.
- 2Acceptance work helped Aiden stop treating thoughts and sensations as threats, though progress required confronting setbacks and resisting quick fixes.
- 3He rebuilt his independence, relationships, travel, and golf career, eventually winning a club championship and returning to Oakmont.
Don't miss
Aiden returns to the Oakmont hole associated with a devastating panic episode and makes a hole-in-one there.
The brief
Aiden Childs traces his anxiety from a serious car accident at 14 through health fears, grief, medication changes, and panic attacks that eventually left him housebound.
His parents describe a family searching across medication, therapy, neurological evaluations, and physical interventions while Aiden’s fear increasingly dictated school, driving, golf, and daily life.
Working with Mike Baszwick, Aiden learned to accept thoughts and sensations without treating them as danger. The approach demanded consistent practice and exposed his impatience for a quick fix.
Early outings were difficult, but intensive acceptance sessions helped buried memories and physical sensations emerge and pass, creating the first meaningful relief outside his home.
Aiden gradually relearned that calm could feel safe, returning to golf, travel, social life, and independence rather than organizing every decision around panic.
The arc turns at Oakmont: after panic once kept him home for months, Aiden later made a hole-in-one on the same hole and won a club championship.