Hi Alison. I am really glad you found my ideas helpful! I am so relieved to know that not only are there lots of other people out there going thru similar things as me, but especially that there are people like you who seem to have not only fears but also principles and perspectives that mirror my own. It really helps to know that there are other people going thru pretty much EXACTLY what I am. PS - I think it's hillarious how ( since the site is programmed to replace curse words with asterisks) the ultimate wholesome activity of putting photos and loving words about your family in an album (also known as s c r a p b o o k i n g) keeps looking like a swear word!! Too funny! Caitlin

when you wrote: "I don't know how this is not an issue for most people, for me mortality weighs on my mind constantly". I couldn't agree with you anymore and wonder that all the time!

Caitlin, thanks so much. Your advice was better than most hours with my psychologist. Why would an older man think of s****booking though! S****booking used to be one of my hobbies and I think that's a theraputic way to start it up again. I am a Christian and attend a awesome churh. When we are singing during praise and worship it is often the few moments of true peace I know. I need to spend more time focusing on my biggest fears- my psychologist is a broken record and keeps telling the same thing over and over again. Stop running, sit down and think about it, but your advice its great way to balance it. Seriously great advice- thanks so much for sharing this!

Hmmm. I personally think that sounds a bit extreme. If I thought about the worst possible death I could imagine over and over it would make my anxiety much worse, and likely cause a setback for me. I think maybe what he is getting at is not to avoid the things that scare you - and that I agree with. I just think he's taking it too far. For example, I have an often overwhelming fear of death - sudden death especially. So, last week during one of my bouts with this, I decided to seriously think about my mortality - about the fact that we all will die eventually. I don't know how this is not an issue for most people, for me mortality weighs on my mind constantly. So I sat down in a safe and comfortable place (my front porch on a pleasant evening with a glass of wine and kids laughing in the background) and I thought about what was really causing my fear of death. I came up with these: 1) fear of not knowing my young son as he grows up, and fear of him not knowing me. So I thought about what would ease my fear of this. I realized there were things I could do - tangible things, that would ease (not eliminate) this worry. I wrote a letter to my husband for him to read when and if I pass away. It was an upbeat letter outlining the things I would really like him to know, and the things I would really like looked after when I die (for example, I told him to speak of me often to our kids, and to remember me with joy and tell funny stories so the kids would grow up knowing me even if I wasn't there). This actually took a big load off my mind, I actually felt better that I had confronted the issue and had looked after this aspect of life/death. I also started s****booking with a friend and made page after page after page for my son. Pictures of him and me, our family, with lots and lots of journaling about what they mean to me, notes and letters about what I dream for them and their lives, about what kind of person I am, etc. I did this in an atmosphere not of paranoia but of peace. It really has helped. 2) Fear of living a meaningless life. So I renewed my Faith. I am a deeply spiritual person, a Christian - a liberal one, and while I have been an on-and-off again church goer I found a church that fit me perfectly and I reconnected with my Faith in God,

As I suffer from intense health anxiety my psychologist wants me to face my fear. So whatever dreaded disease I'm panic about, we talk about getting it and suffering from it and how that would feel step by step. Plus he wants me to sit and think about my death by myself every night. So I'd get real comfortable with the idea and this would lessen my fear. Has anyone done this and have made and progress? What are your thoughts on this everyone?