Are you afraid to die and think of it often?

I don’t think about it often, I actually try to think about it as rarely as possible. Usually when I think of my own death, the 1st thing that comes to mind is eternal darkness after death.. like sleep with no dreams. When I actually start to think about it and analyze it I start to have panic attacks, which is why I try to keep it out of my mind.

I do not fear death, because I cannot avoid it. No one can. If your fear of death keeps you from fully living and experiencing the joy that life has to offer, you might want to speak with a therapist.

I don’t dwell on it, but it does creep me out! And makes me sad….the things I’ll miss with my kids, grandkids, etc..

@MrMontpetit I’m with you. The older I get, the more I think about it, but what can you do other than live your life to the fullest, love & be loved. I go to church regularly & I believe in God. That does give me strength. But then there’s the logical side, too, & that’s what bothers me.

I’m not afraid to die. I look forward to that day, as it will give me the answer to the ultimate question.

Why be scared of something that’s inevitable? Life is, after all, a 100% terminal disease.

For what it’s worth, I’m completely non religious, and I believe that when I die my body will rot in the ground and I will exist no more. I don’t believe in a heaven nor hell.

I don’t fear being dead because I believe in Heaven and believe I will be there someday, but I do fear the actual process of dying, like drowning or being burnt alive, that scares me more, I would like to die quickly and painlessly if I had a choice.

Love of life could easily (and just as validly) be called a fear of death. I’m not at all comfortable with it. I often have irrational (?) fears about random people pulling out guns and shooting me or robbing me. It’s bad, and it shouldn’t occupy my thoughts. We may live long enough to live forever, as Ray Kurzweil says. Medical science is progressing more and more each day. We may live to 150 if we’re lucky.

I’m pretty afraid of dying, yeah.

I’m not afraid of being dead. I’m afraid because I really like living, and I want to see what happens.

I certainly don’t plan on dying, anyway. I’m all for the technological singularity. It’s the atheist version of the Rapture!

No, I’m not afraid any longer and I don’t think of hardly ever. I’m lucky to have lived quite a bit, almost three different lives in less time than one half.

my dad is a minister and he has told me many times about people, sometimes close friends, who wanted him by their bedside when they knew they were about to pass from this life and one of things that surprised him the most is when they wondered if they had done enough in this life to make it to “heaven”, eternal bliss, whatever you want to call it. From what I take from stuff like that is you have to find peace within yourself, knowing you will die and accept it. Death is apart of life. If you are religious still, then go talk to someone at your church and see if that helps. Good luck.

@Qingu : Yeah, I’m afraid of the being dead part. Well, also the dying part a little. I don’t want any of it to happen.

And you all are right, it’s got a lot to do with me not wanting to be apart from the Earthly people and things that I love and am comfortable with.

I don’t let it interfere with my life much, but when I get these dreams, I’m pretty scared for like a week.

@ubersiren, please don’t worry about anything you read in NewScientist. Seriously. That magazine is a god-damn rag!

Also, why would you be afraid of being dead? (I’d assume it feels the same way you felt before you were born.)

@Qingu : Before I was born!!! OMG!! Just kidding.

I hope reincarnation is real.

I am not afraid of dying. I look as death as the final chapter to what I feel has been a GREAT book (my life). Can you imagine reading “Gone With The Wind” only the find the last chapter had been torn out of the book?? I feel that way about dying. While I anticipate the final chapter to be written, I do hope it is not written anytime real soon, as I still have about twenty or thirty chapters yet to be lived!!

Now having said that, it is not death I fear, but perhaps the manner of death. I do hope for a peaceful exit.

I’m not afraid once I’m dead. It’s the “dying” part that scares the crap out of me. I don’t want it to hurt.

I think about it often Especially this week since a friends 28 year old daughter had her funeral on Saturday and my daughter just found out her mother in law is terminal, but I am not afraid.
I just read a book called The Shack by William P Young. It’s a great read for the non religious, spiritual types. It is fiction, but about death, dieing, relationships and the nature of God. It is definitely from a Christian perspective, but many institutionalized Christians would have a hard time with it since God is a big black woman and Jesus is an unattractive Arab.

I really don’t fear death at all. I fear leaving behind those that will hurt because of my passing (i’ve felt that hurt a number of times over the past few years and wouldn’t want to be the cause of it, though I know i’ll have to be someday), but I don’t really fear death. I believe in my beliefs and views on death and dying and that is good enough for me to just take it as it comes.

@Mr_M that’s my only fear too is that it’ll be a painful death. I really hope not.

whats the point of worrying if you know theres nothing you can do about it? just go with the flow of everyone before

not afraid at all

@mattgolling ; Proud to give you your first Great Answer . Lurve!

No.

No I don’t.

Sounds like Christian upbringing frequently creates concern about death. While saying it offers comfort, it often comes across as a threat.

I don’t think of it often, but yes I am afraid of it. I hope when the time comes, that I die, that I’m calm with the fact that it is happening. Hopefully I’m in bed, surrounded by my family, on lovely pain meds, and go peacefully. I won’t be afraid then.

No, it will be alright. I’ll get to see my Mum again. I talk to her in my head and it will be good to interact with her.

What I find interesting is the assumption in the question and in the referenced article that if all our electrical infrascture goes, we all die.

Humans have been on the planet for either 2.7 million, or 7000 years, depending on your point of view. And we’ve only had a technology infrastructure that would be effected by solar storm for the last… 110–130 of those?

How did we survive?

I don’t ever remember being afraid of dying and I never really thought too deeply about it. There is a good chance I’ll be spending 7 months of next year in Afghanistan and even though it is more dangerous for me there than it is here, I still won’t be afraid of dying but I will certainly be doing everything I can to stay safe. I have too much to live for.

Depends on my mood.

Sometimes I wish it upon myself and other times the idea of not existing scares me to death (hah!).

I don’t think about it as much as I used to think about death and dying. When you go through treatment after treatment, due to cancer and nothing seems to be stopping it from spreading, it does cross your mind…a lot. Now that I am nearing the end of my treatments, I find that I don’t think about it, as much.

I’ve been surrounded by death for the last couple of years, I did fear dying. I was so worried about dying and leaving my children without a mother. I didn’t want to leave my husband. That is what scared me.

I am not afraid of my death, but…

…“The world is a fine place and worth fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.”

Not really. I don’t want to sound depressing, but just I see it as a part of life. I don’t think about it a lot either. I don’t see the point, really. It’s going to happen sooner or later.

I do not fear Death as it, in itself, will be a release. I do fear dying – old age, sickness, and pain. I also worry about not having done what I would consider enough in this lifetime. Not living as fully and freely as I would have liked.

No. I worry for my family, but not really for myself. What happens, happens. I just hope that when it’s time to go, I’ve done what I can to help prepare them for it.

It sounds like you might be interested, like myself, in near death experiences (hope that doesn’t scare you away just hearing that?). Seriously, they’re reported even more often these days due to our improving resuscitation technology (about 30% of people that are resuscitated have one). Real quickly, here are 2 well-told accounts, so you can see and hear these people talking about them yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOVawdK06HY (I’ll bet she’s an awesome mom)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFQZQYaBL_U (psychotherapist that had one)

I was in a terrible car accident that was very difficult to recover from. In many ways, I’m still affected by it, even though it happened over ten years ago. The impact was so sudden and fast that I didn’t feel anything until at least a full 30 seconds after the motion stopped. I sustained terrible injuries, but had the accident taken my life in that moment of impact, it would have actually been a painless death. As it was, my body coped with pain in ways that kept me within my threshold. As the pain got too much to bear, I actually would pass out. So I guess even the trauma of injury and pain surrounding death is addressed in the complex mechanisms of our bodies; it’s like they’re programmed to deal with this stuff. Since then, yes, I admit of having concerns about death (who doesn’t?), but I’ve contemplated this accident, and other painful moments in my life, and what I can say is that there’s always deliverance, either through death itself, or through recovery, and that gives me comfort.

No, I look at death as the answer to any questions I’ve had about what it would feel like. And as a nice escape from this existence.
What I DO fear is pain. Death is probably similar to just falling asleep. But pain scares me. Already I have more aches and pains than I ever dreamed of. And to think, to KNOW they’ll get Much worse is frightening!! No one warned me about this! If it doesn’t ache it tingles. If it doesn’t ache or tingle, it burns. Who needs it? lol

I am afraid to die PAINFULLY.
I can only wish to die QUICKLY.