The more I read, the more scared I get

Scenes

• On the subway to work, your hand stops while reading a sexual health article — Standing among the crowd and reading, one word—possibility—lingers like today’s conclusion.
• Nothing has been decided yet, but I’m scared — If I stop searching, it feels like I’m missing something. If I keep reading, I shrink as though I’ve done something wrong.
• You read the same sentence three times during one stop — Around eight in the morning, your finger keeps scrolling, but your eyes keep stopping at the word “possibility.”
• A possibility isn’t my conclusion — Sexual health articles discuss many possibilities together. But when you’re anxious, it’s easy to hold on to one of them as though it were the answer to your situation.
• Choose just one fact from what you read — Today, instead of continuing to search, write down just one confirmed fact and one thing you still don’t know. It’s okay if you don’t feel calmer right away.
• Even when something remains unknown, the question becomes a little clearer — When information starts pushing you around, the next step begins with choosing what to confirm rather than what to read next.