Hi Ben,

I'm glad I could help a bit. You can read about my own history in my previous posts, and I can give you more details in a PM if you wish (not here to avoid derailing your thread).

These routine activities do not harm our brains. What kind of shoes do you wear? I now wear sneakers to go to work to minimize the jarring, and I have more formal shoes in my backpack or in my office if needed.

Even if we trigger symptoms by walking or taking the subway, the cost-benefit analysis clearly says that going out is better than staying home all the time. We would harm ourselves much more if we decided to stay home, isolated, and give up on our social life and activities. The adverse health effects of solitude are very well documented, perhaps even more so than the long-term issues you are worried about (CTE, etc.).

Mark said it many times already: the answer is clearly yes. This board should have set the facts straight for you, not you should work on accepting this knowledge. Think about the big picture again. No one knows exactly how we would feel now if we had been able to control our anxiety these past months/years. But the direction is clear: reducing anxiety is somewhat under our control, and it helps us, so we have to do it.

All the best.