As a young science student, about 12 years old, I was informed of the life cycles of stars and that, yes, our sun was indeed a star. This spiraled out of control in my dreamlife to a point where I would wake up sweaty and fearful that the earth had just been engulfed by our sun during it’s swelling to the red giant phase of it’s life. Needless to say, my waking up proved the fact that the sun was still just a middle-size star. It took a little while longer, but I finally realized the timeline of the life cycle of a star and the probability of me or any of my genetically recognizable offspring being alive when this stellar event actually takes place billions of years into the future.

If you have ever had a similar fear of an asteroid hitting the earth or of a germ warfare conflict wiping out civilization, take a moment to read “We’re All Gonna Die” from Wired magazine. Maybe it will put that fear into perspective and your dreams can return to one of your many other vivid, enjoyable fantasies.