![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb07b244b-f209-4825-8203-281d6a98ae60_750x417.jpeg)
Plague Hospital (1798-1800) by Francisco Goya
Dear Polly,
Your words and your honesty and vulnerability have gotten me through some pretty hard times in the past, and I have a lot of gratitude for that, and for you. But I have a lot of something else right now too, and that's utter existential dread. It's bad. And I'm finding that I can't keep my mind fro…