Iregularly meet my friend Francesca in the park for a walk, and one day, she told me, "I've been feeling really anxious lately, and I think it stems from thoughts I've had since I was young."

"Tell me," I responded.

"When I think about the extinction of the human race, I feel this overwhelming fear ," she explained. "Even as a child, the idea of the world ending terrified me."

"I understand," I said gently. "Those are deeply unsettling thoughts."

"It's not just a mental thing," she continued, her voice shaking slightly. "I feel it physically, too. My chest tightens, and I sometimes have trouble breathing; it can affect an entire day."

"That sounds horrible," I said, nodding. "How do you process it?"

"It helps to talk about it," she admitted. "But why does it feel so intense?"

"M

See Full Page