Actor and comedian Anthony Russell Hale, also known as Tony Hale, has been vocal recently about his mental health conditions and how he deals with them. The Inside Out actor often connects with his character Fear and has found a new way to deal with his anxiety and panic attacks.
Although the 53-year-old actor has won several awards including two Primetime Emmys, his fans hardly know that he gets nervous whenever he goes on stage, fearing he might get a panic attack. Let’s find out what he does in such situations.
The Veep actor revealed that whenever he feels his mind going into “what if?” territory, he “has to activate the five senses,” which he’s been practicing lately. He shared an example of how he does that. “Because when I find myself living in a different story of ‘what if?’ (I practice), ‘Hold the table. What are you touching? What are you seeing? What are you tasting? What are you hearing?'”
Tony Hale’s “game changer” solution to fighting anxiety is to appreciate it
During the conversation, Hale shared how he would get anxious every night before going on stage for his solo play Wakey Wakey San Francisco in 2020. He thought to himself “Oh, well, tonight is the night I’m going to have a panic attack on stage, why don’t you prepare for it?”
According to Hale, sometimes the fear of forgetting lines while performing can even lead to an out-of-body experience. She explained that one of her most recent techniques to deal with this is to be more compassionate about it.
Because he thinks anxiety wants protection, he appreciates its presence rather than ignoring it. In such situations, Hale tells himself, “Hey, I appreciate you being here. I know you’re trying to help. I’ll keep going, but I really appreciate you being here.’ What I used to do was push it away or ignore it and move on… the more I tried to push it away, the bigger it got.” He said this was a “game changer” for him.
Linking it to the 2015 animated film Inside Out and its sequel, which is released today (June 14), Hale said the emotions the film’s characters experience – fear, joy, sadness, anger, anxiety, jealousy and embarrassment, among others – all make them want to “protect” and “help” pre-teen protagonist Riley.
