None of us are strangers to death. The longer we live, the more people that we will know that are here one day and gone the next. I think back to over the past few years at how much death I had been exposed to: Two great aunts, an uncle, a business colleague, a friend’s father and a colleague’s wife.

Many of the childhood fairy tales that we were exposed to as kids ended with the lead character falling in love with their “perfect mate” and them “living happily ever after”. Examples include Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty & the Beast. Each of these stories end with the main characters committing themselves to each other. And it is implied that their relationships survive the test of time.

My parents are both immigrants from Portugal. They both came to the US looking for a better life. My father came here on his own when he was 18 years old. My mother, when she was 13 with her entire family. Each of them brought within them the lessons from their own families around money.

We all have moments when we doubt ourselves around if we successfully completed a task. Did I wash my hands after using the bathroom? Did I turn my alarm on to wake me up in the morning? Did I lock my car in the parking lot? These moments of doubt are quite normal. We can be so focused on other parts of our lives that we forget if we did a common task that particular time.

Panic attacks are one of the most awful experiences a person can undergo. Many people compare them to having a heart attack due to the similarities in the symptoms of both events. Yet unlike a heart attack that has a biological cause, a blocked artery in your heart, a panic attack comes from your mind.

Human beings are social creatures. We have evolved to be part of communities. They help support our needs and provide for us while we contribute to the community in return. But for some of us, being part of a community can be difficult and at times impossible.