Man’s astronomy lesson gives girlfriend panic attack

One man’s impromptu astronomy lesson took an unexpected turn when he caused his girlfriend to suffer a panic attack while discussing the doomed future of our planet.

The space aficionado in question wrote on the subreddit “Today I F***** Up” that he was FaceTiming with his girlfriend while on Reddit discussing with another user how diamonds are “essentially worthless,” as they are extremely common on other planets. (Scientists say that it actually rains the pricy uncut gems on Saturn and Jupiter.)

From there, the conversation segued into different types of stars and how they eventually die — including our very own Sun — and wipe out everything in their range in the process, including orbiting planets — like, ya know, the Earth.

Naturally, his girlfriend wasn’t a fan of that concept.

“She starts to worry about the end of life in our solar system,” the man wrote. “As my girlfriend digests this information, she starts to think of how humanity may end completely and how life, and our existence is basically meaningless which sends her into a panic attack, causing her to freeze up, have difficulty breathing, and start crying for about five minutes straight.”

Although it may seem illogical to breakdown over an event set to take place so, SO incredibly far in the future (seriously, scientists estimate the Sun won’t run out of hydrogen for another 5 billion years), commenters still seemed to relate to the woman’s sense of doom, albeit in relation to more impending events.

“My wife has these same fears about death. I can’t bring up old age and dying without her breaking down,” one user wrote. “I tend to avoid it, since there isn’t anything I can say that with reassure her.”

“That reminds me when I was around 6-7yo, and my little brother 2-3yo,” said another. “He asked me if we are going to die, and I said that we’ll all die eventually. I was grounded because he cried for 2 days straight.”

The fear of dying, referred to simply as “death anxiety,” defines the apprehension people experience when they think of or become aware of death and the unknown that comes along with it, according to Healthline.

Death anxiety can be perfectly normal. However, when it starts interfering with how you live your day-to-day life, it can become problematic and warrant treatment by a medical professional.

If you enjoyed this story, learn 5 ways to reduce your anxiety.

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