Imagine you’re at work and your boss emails you about the status of a report she asked you to start writing weeks ago. Many of us might feel a tinge of anxiety at the sight of her name, then relief when we open the email and realize it’s a minor question — we’ve been working on the report since she assigned it — which we’d answer before moving on with our day.

But what if you hadn’t started the report? What if even thinking about the report caused you intense discomfort and a desire to avoid working on it? What if you couldn’t even open the email asking about its ETA because that made you panic? What if this was the second email she’d sent about it, neither of which you’d been able to open? What if having to write the report felt unjust to you, though intellectually you knew it wasn’t?

See Full Page