I freak out and have a panic attack if I'm thinking about death in depth. Bawling my eyes out. Makes me more sad as a kid it would happen to me and my parents would tell me "don't worry you're never going to die" doesn't help now.
When I moved out on my own, my mind kind of flipped and freaked out because I was finally doing adult things. Then I started getting intense anxiety attacks and focusing hard on death (and of course binging on fast food to deal with all of it). I couldn't stop thinking about death and eventually started seeing a therapist regularly. Slowly, the anxiety subsided and I learned that it shouldn't be something to worry about. It's an inevitability and you do what you can to stay alive and be loving to others as long as you can and then you discover what's on the other side of the curtain. I will never be able to wrap my mind around eternity and that was one of my biggest anxieties out of all of it. I sincerely hope that it's just a phase for most of you and that it doesn't take over your lives. It's truly miserable and in the end, a fool's errand to spend so much time on it.
A girl I went to high school with died unexpectedly some time in the last day (still don't know the specifics, but it made the Facebook rounds). Twin 4-year-old daughters, only 33 years old herself. Second classmate I've lost in 3 months. It's so bizarre. My grandmother died at the beginning of the month, but she was 97 and had literally told us she was ready to go. Sad, but not a tragedy. I try not to worry about death. When it comes for me, it comes. What bothers me most is never seeing certain people again...even if I won't know it.
Not sure how scared I am of death in itself, but I do worry about who and what I'd be leaving behind if I did die.
I think about death everyday. Everytime I drive by semi-truck in the rain I wonder if I'm about to find out what, if anything, is next. I've read about death from theistic and non-theistic perspectives for 20 some years and all I've figured out is that we have no idea if anything is beyond this life we're in, but we have a lot of interesting thoughts on it.
My biggest fear with death is I can't shake the feeling that the universe gives you a bucket list, and if I don't do x y and z before I die I wasted my life, further complicating things I'm not quite sure what is on it
I've come to terms with death and I don't think that I fear it. I know everything will die some day and just accepting it has made me feel better about the whole thing. The only thing I can do now is take my vitamins, stay healthy and try to get the most years out of life.
my mom passed this morning. she had been dealing with brain cancer for the last three years. at this point, after being a wreck for most of the time she was ill, im just relieved that she went off peacefully.
Sorry for your loss Pat, I really can't I imagine. I do know that feeling of relief though, and I'm happy she's not suffering anymore.
I watched the episode of Black Mirror called "San Junipero". Far more than the idea of an everlasting non-existence, the idea of just going on in perpetuity is deeply unsettling to me. Perhaps it is the precariousness of such an existence that bothers me, whereas non-existence is certain and totalizing. I don't know. Suffice to say, it didn't sit well with me.
For me the most interesting part of the episode was leaving in place the unknown that would come with natural death. So, in a sense there are two certain occurrences. First, death, meaning the end of your life. Second, if chosen, existence in perpetuity in the form of San Junipero, which is a form naturally conceivable and knowable. So, that essentially leaves two ironic groups of people to who'm death would still be enticing: 1) those who embrace the idea in atheism that there is nothing other than this existence and with death comes non-existence, and 2) those who's faith in something beyond this existence is strong enough to take the risk. Exceptions to this rule would be people who chose death to be reunited with a loved one but would otherwise have chosen San Junipero and vice versa. Maybe this is all mitigated by the idea that at some distant point the sun will burn out, the universe will collapse, and the system that runs San Junipero will come to an end presumably sending everyone to death anyway.
Death is perpetual, and ever present. It is the weapon most used to keep people from living. Edit: The cult meeting has been moved to 5:30
A 12-year-old girl I am very close with passed away this morning after an 8 year battle with cancer. Cancer sucks, life sucks, survivor's guilt sucks. What is the point.
A family friend of ours had a 6 year old daughter who died falling out of a tree in their back yard. Sometimes life is cruel and unfair. :( Sorry for your loss.
I used to be very ok with dying but then my dad died unexpectedly a couple years ago and it became real. Now I'm terrified of dying and it plagues my mind all the time. I'm not religious so I'm not afraid of what happens after, I'm just afraid of how/when I'm going to die. I don't want to be in pain. I woke up in the middle of the night recently in a slight panic, thinking about my inevitable death.
I don't think we have a real purpose. Like in the grand scheme of things we're just brief moments in time that mostly get forgotten, like flashes in the pan. We impact the people around us and the effects of that can make a difference in others and live on that way, but in terms of like a purpose... I feel like we'll just be a cautionary tale on how we destroyed the planet or something. A lot of people find my view depressing but I don't think it is? If anything its kinda nice to alleviate the pressure of Your Grand Purpose. Tbh I find the idea of us all having a purpose to be kind of arrogant? I was born because two teenagers didn't use protection and I'll live for a while and try to do the best I can and then I'll die and thats it. I strive to be happy in the moments I'm here and try to put goodness into the world around me to try and make the world suck less for a minute, but I guess I don't care about Why I'm Here and I don't think it's for any important reason beyond science doing it's thing.
Also once a teacher in hs graded me lower cause I said i didn't care what happens after death and i don't think we'll ever get like one definitive answer everyone agrees on anyway so I think it's pointless to care or try to find out and I'm pressed af about that assignment still
I see death a lot. I recently lost my mom, and it wasn't easy. It's different it being your own mom than someone you took care of. I really didn't want her spirit to see me sad and lonely, but now it has to. It makes me wonder more about mediumship and readings, and how accurate readings people get are. When she passed, I read several articles about near death experiences and they all mostly have the same similarities. I just want to know that heaven is actually for real and she's there, in peace and no longer in pain.
death has been around me a lot, esp the last few years so my relationship with it was always an odd one. between the depression for years and always somewhat dancing with it and the fact that in ways deaths have been pivots of perspective for me at times in life. painful ones, ones that lead me to being lost for awhile but its almost like its been a parallel for me in life to not only to teach me things about life & myself but appreciation as well.