Dear Gaia:

Good you saw a doctor. The doctor didn’t find anything life threatening about your chest pain, good thing. When we are anxious, what happens is that we become very aware of every sensation in our bodies, worrying about underlying, life threatening causes for those sensations, while all along everyone experiences those sensations, only many don’t pay so much attention to them.

You are worried that your extreme feelings will kill you, but think of all the thousands of WW2  Auschwitz Concentration Camp survivors who survived years of all torture possible, severe malnutrition, severe lack of all kinds, forced labor.. death all around them, overt unspeakable cruelty, every day real and present dangers to their lives.. terror, anger, every day… and yet they survived and went on to live into old age, their 80s, 90s… it is evidence of something, isn’t it.

(I will soon be away from the computer for a few hours).

anita