Illness also became part of my life when I was a child. I constantly had stomach viruses and sore throats, and for a time my mother thought my new anxieties stemmed from pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with strep infections, or PANDAS. Although from my therapist's words, that wasn't the case. From what I can remember, I dealt with my irrational thoughts in two ways. I first harbored an obsession with "turning into" Wonder Woman, whom I admired wholeheartedly as a child. When I felt uncomfortable in a situation I would transform into Wonder Women and try to forget my problems. Now I only did it at home; I wasn't the crazy kid who "turned into Wonder Woman" at school when I was frustrated. Once that phase wore off, reading became my form of escape. In elementary and middle school I turned the pages of books more than I looked