I tend to lean into things when I shouldn't. When I feel sad, I overdo the mopey ballads and let the blues wash over me. When I'm home alone and already feeling tense, I find it the perfect time for a horror movie and start jumping at every creak of the floorboards. It would be smarter to avoid exacerbating these negative feelings, but I can't help myself.

Appropriately, as COVID numbers have been taking off again, I've decided to lean into my anxious hypochondria by listening to a delightfully unnerving podcast, aptly titled This Podcast Will Kill You. Hosted by two disease ecologists an...