If the word ‘death’ makes your chest tighten, or if you’ve spent months body scanning and wondering ‘what if this is it,’ what if I told you that death isn’t the scary, painful monster we’ve been taught to fear?

In today’s episode, I am having a conversation that is not meant to scare you—in fact, it’s meant to do the exact opposite. For many of us struggling with health anxiety, panic disorder, or agoraphobia, the fear of death is the "silent engine" running in the background. It’s the intrusive thought that stops us in our tracks and the reason we feel the need to control every sensation in our bodies.

I am joined by the incredible Julie McFadden, a hospice nurse and New York Times bestselling author known to millions as Hospice Nurse Julie. Julie has spent years at the bedside of the dying, and she brings a perspective that is grounded, compassionate, and—believe it or not—deeply comforting. We aren't here to be morbid; we are here to take the "grip" out of the fear so you can start living your life again.

In This Episode, We Explore:

1. Is it Normal to be Afraid? Julie discusses why fearing death makes you a "normal human being" and how the title of her book, Nothing to Fear, is really an invitation to normalize the conversation.
2. The Biology of Peace: A fascinating look at how our bodies are actually built to die. Julie explains the biological mechanisms that take over to keep us peaceful and comfortable at the end of life.
3. Why Culture Makes it Harder: How we shifted from death being a "home event" to an "institutionalized" one, and why hiding death has increased our collective death anxiety.
4. Correcting the Myths: Julie debunks common fears about pain and "suffering" at the end of life, explaining the difference between what we see and what the dying person is actually experiencing.
5. The Afterlife and "Coming Home": Julie shares her personal, mystical experiences with patients that have validated her belief that death is less of an end and more of a "return to home."
6. How Death Teaches Us to Live: Why contemplating our mortality is the ultimate tool for presence, gratitude, and freedom from the small things that used to stress us out.

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