Not long ago, whenever my son would hear me draw my breath in quickly or make a sound approximating alarm, he’d look at me with the insouciant curiosity of a three year-old and ask, “What’s the panic?”

Precisely, my son. What IS the panic?

Can anyone tell me? Are movies dead? Have people stopped consuming entertainment? Has media gone down the tubes? Is this the death knell of our business?

As my boy is ever quick to remind me, “Dad, it’s not a panic.”

I’m here to pass along that sentiment. Panic is anxiety. And, as Seth Godin astutely observed, “Anxiety is nothing but repeatedly re-experiencing failure in advance.” The sky is not falling. The end is not near. So why panic? Remain calm. Prepare for what may be a turbulent ride, but one where we will certainly arrive at our destination, which, if we reprogram our thinking, is SUCCESS.

The turbulence we are experiencing is CHANGE. The nature of change has changed. The rate of change has changed. The rate of the nature of change changing has changed.

It’s coming fast and furious now, truly at the speed of thought. Some of us will be ahead of it. Some of us will BE the change. Some us will ride the crest of the wave. Others will be swallowed by it. Though, even if you’re swept under by the torrent, as long as you manage to hold your breath, you can kick to the surface.

Media is indestructible. Media is perennial. Media is omnipresent. So what’s the panic?

The way media is managed, monetized and marketed will metamorphose. Platforms will progress. Infrastructure will transmogrify. Content will still be King. Those adept, will adapt.

So let’s get an attitude adjustment about the way we approach the future of our work, our industry, our lives. Media will survive. And so will you. Better yet, you can choose to thrive.

So take a deep breath, hold it in for as long as you can and allow the soothing words of a sagacious three year-old wash over you…

IT’S NOT A PANIC.