How do you feel about death?

It may be because I’m only 19, but I’m quite afraid of death. If I had to face it now, I would just be so deeply disappointed I was unable to accomplish what I could have. I would be robbed of the opportunity to get a career, a husband, a family, to travel and experience everything the world has to offer. For this reason, it’s terrifying to me.

Also, the uncertainty around it is really daunting. When I die, is my consciousness and awareness of self gone? Does afterlife exist? No one living knows the answers to these questions.

I find it strange that a lot of old people are totally down with death. They seem very at peace with it. Perhaps this is because they’ve lived a full life, but aren’t they scared about what happens next?

No worries (save dying in some horribly slow agonizing manner), after all there’s no sense worrying about what I can’t control. I obviously don’t know what’s next but what will be will be. Though I’m certainly not in a hurry to find out.

I feel the same way as you for the most part. Death is not always on my mind or anything, but the fact that there is so much unknown about it unnerves me. It’s the biggest mystery known to mankind and that’s an important part of why it is so feared. The only other thing that bothers me about it is the manner in which it will happen. I don’t want to be murdered, I don’t want it to be painful, etc.

I do think it has to do with age. Because I’m 18 and haven’t experienced all that much, I find death more of a negative thing. There is still so much more that I want to do and experience that death is not something I am content with facing now. That doesn’t mean that when I’m older, dying will seem like a great option, but it will seem less negative. At least, that is what I am theorizing; I can’t say at all how I’m going to feel for sure.

I was told by my doctors about three years ago that I had five years to live. If the cancer in my bloodstream gets me first, it will probably settle in my bones. I’ve been told this is an extremely painful way to die. It is THAT I fear more than actually dying itself.

I don’t fear it.

I anticipate nothing. Don’t want to ruin the surprise.

Pretty good band. My favorite album has to be either Leprosy or Spiritual Healing.
I’ll accept death/dying, even if I can’t accomplish 78% the things I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always wondered if whether or not there’s an afterlife

The only thing I fear is my husband and children going before me.

I have no fear except the thought of being bound in some strange limbo state after I cross over. Like in that movie with Robin Williams, “What Dreams May Come”. The Tibetans have much debate on their existential nature of these realms and I also wonder. If they are all imagination and we are only left with imagination after our demise then they may as well exist. I just don’t want to be trapped in a nightmare or a repetitive fantasy.

I don’t want it to hurt. Or take a long time.
But I think it’s going to be pretty cool to find out what happens next. And I hope I get to see some certain people I’ve missed. And I have some big questions I hope will get answered.

I welcome it. I’ve outlived my usefulness.

I accept it as the necessary end to life, and as such I do not fear it. I wish to delay it for the moment, but I have come to terms with death and see it as a well deserved rest for someone tired of life.

It’s lights out, and there’s no point in ruminating about it. We have evolved a response to the angst, though. It’s called “religion” and I have often thought that it would be comforting to be able to believe. Too bad I can’t suspend disbelief.

I don’t fear death as much as I fear extended time in pain or some sort of lingering terror before my death, like I wouldn’t want to be in a plane watching it spiral towards the ground or something.

Just make it quick for me, thanks.

I don’t fear death in the slightest. I just don’t want anyone to be sad about my demise. As long as I go out with a BANG, it’s fine by me. I wouldn’t mind being immortal, though, as long as I never age. And if my loved ones could join me for eternity. I either want to die in battle, or saving someone from a burning building. If I’m doomed anyways, I want to have some control over my fiery end.

no fear…just another part of life to see whats next. Yep, teh spiritual chick speaks out again.

@CaptainHarley sorry. My aunt had bone cancer. I lurve you.

@Draconess25 cool answer!

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Well, it’s true!

@Draconess25 Damn straight. I feel the same way, except no desire to be immortal.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land You mean, you wanna be exploded, too?

It’s not the being dead, but the dying I fear…..

I’m not necessarily looking forward to it. It’s o.k. with me if it get’s put off as long as it can, except that I don’t really want to outlive my mind or die in pain. But, it’s inevitable. I figure death is either the end of me, the end of my consciousness, therefore “I” won’t be around to feel one way or another about it, or that there is something after death and that there’s a chance that whatever it is, could be kind of interesting. Who knows? Death might just be the start of the next great adventure.

I fear dying alone.
My WWII vet father said “there are no atheists in foxholes” but I fear he was wrong.
@stranger_in_a_strange_land I wish you felt differently. I wish I did.

Oh, I have fears in the area of death. I fear spending my last days befuddled in a bad nursing home where they mistreat the patrons, and since I have no retirement savings, I must probably learn to accept something like that as being part of my fate.

@dpworkin yes. scary.

Being raised by extremely religious Catholic parents, brought to church every week, sent to CCD throughout my entire childhood, and being told I would go to hell if I so much as took communion without having gone to confession, death used to terrify me. Now that I have found a Faith that I truly believe in and feel like I am working things out with God, I am not afraid of dying. I am afraid of what @dpworkin mentioned and of leaving my boys and boyfriend too soon.

It’s coming.

Never really think about it since its unavoidable. Figure its harder on those left behind, so I’m just sorry I won’t be around to comfort those I leave behind. However I rather go first before those I love.

I just turned 50 a few months ago and while never really fearing death, I have had some amazing openings of the transcendent kind over this last decade.

I have no fear of death, infact, I see it as a great adventure! lol

Of course I would not be thrilled to die a horrible and painful death, although very few of us will go peacefully in our sleep, but…death itself does not frighten me.

True, I have been on both sides of just about every fence there is, all the dichotomies apply.

Young/old (er)
Poor/comfortable
fat/thin ( holding my own ) lol
up/down
happy/sad
in love/in hate
city/country life

I married, had a child, have traveled some, have known extreme joy and extreme sorrow.

I feel I have had a well rounded life experience and while I don’t have a death wish, I can honestly say, if my numbers up, it’s cool.

Tonight, tomorrow, another 40 years.

Of course there is still a lot of mystery and adventure to be had, but, all in all, I do think that by mid-life most people have made their peace, within and without.

Everything from here on out is just frosting on the cake!

The age of wisdom is an awesome space to inhabit!

@jazmina88

Thank you. I’m a pretty tough ole bird, but I have no desire to see just HOW tough. Heh! Just keep me in your prayers. : )

@Draconess25 I almost was. They just didn’t do the job properly.

same as b4 you were born.

I’m not worried about dying but I am terrified of my loved ones dying.

Death freaks me out more than anything. I always think of the people who died thousands of years ago, and they’ve just been dead ever since. And then I think that a thousand years is nothing, I have to be dead for eternity. Terrifying.

@Ivan Its not like you’ll know about it…...

@stranger_in_a_strange_land o.O

The only thing that really scares me about it is how I die. I’m not really scared of what happens after that. It’s something that we all must face at some point or another. There’s nothing for me in this world…

@xRIPxTHEREVx I hope that changes for you!

@Ivan Time like an ever rolling stream
Bears all its sons away
They fly forgotten as a dream
Dies at the openi8ng day

If there is an afterlife of sorts, it may be an eternity of how you feel as the candle goes out.
Try to feel good.

@anartist

Yes, I have heard that hypothesis as well, that dependent upon our state of mind we may, infact, create our own eternal afterlife. As always, more mind candy for the mystery.

@Ivan

LOL…” I always think of the people that died thousands of years ago, and they’ve been dead ever since ” hahahaha

Not laughing AT you, just laughing, that’s cute, for lack of a better word! ;-)

Meh.

@Silhouette Best answer ever! :D

It’s easy to say I’m not afraid of death when I’m not, to my knowledge, directly facing it at this point, and I’d be lying if I said otherwise. I’m pretty sure being afraid to die is a natural human response, after all.
However, I’ve long come to term with it and accepted it. It’s inevitable and it’s gonna happen, so there’s no real point in stressing over it. And hell, I sometimes welcome the idea. It’s not always a bad thought or a scary idea. No I’m not being all emo or anything, but thinking about it sometimes gives your energy, or a pick me up like when everything sucks. Sometimes we all need that surge of apathy as a boost haha.
But yeah I don’t really feel much about it. In the end it doesn’t really matter how, why or when you die, but that it will.
What scares me more than being dead though, is the process of dying…it probably sucks.

@Symbeline Thanks.

I have read that 80% of all an individual’s health expenses are spent in the last months of life. What does that tell you about the process? G-a-a-a-hh!

@FireMadeFlesh

You never know.

@Coloma

?

@Ivan I’m certain of it, although it would be unreasonable to expect my certainty to be enough for other people.

@Ivan

I thought your comment was funny!

@Ivan
Do I note humility? I’m impressed. Yes you never know.

@Ivan Jeez! I never would have guessed it. If your self, your consciousness, your awareness dies with you, how can you possibly be afraid of being dead for eternity? You won’t be there to experience it. Fascinating, Ivan. A side of you I never would have imagined. Do you think it’s possible that something of your consciousness, your awareness lives on so that you might be aware of your own death?

@lillycoyote

I fully expect death to simply be an eternal sleep that we are completely unaware of, but for some reason that still worries me. It’s a fear based on emotion, not logic. And of course, I can’t know for certain what death will be like.

@Ivan None of us can be absolutely certain, no matter what we believe, one way or the other, with belief and absolute certainty being two entirely different things, that’s probably what makes it all kind of scary. The uncertainty of it. But I’m with you, a little bit at least, at my age, and I’m not evern really that old, but I have kind of made peace with the idea of death. At least I am not in the same mindset I was when I was very young, that it was something that only happened to other people, that it was not inevitable. I know that I will only know how I really feel about it when I am staring it right in the face. I don’t think anyone can say how they really feel about it until that moment. Like I said above, who knows? It very well may be the beginning of the next great adventure.

@lillycoyote

Personally, I’m pulling for puppies and rainbows.

@Ivan And kitties too? :) I would live to meet up with, among other creatures, including humans, I have known and love, with my kitties in an afterlife, it there is an afterlife. They were the best cats a person could ever ask for. But I liked my parents too. I wouldn’t mind seeing them again. It’s not just about the cats. :)

somehow I’m more willing to believe in the rainbow bridge than in heaven, maybe because I need to. I really want to see my baby-boy again and my other loved critters.

Rainbows!

@anartist Wagner’s more interesting than the Bible.I’ll take Valhalla.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land you must be a warrior

My Dad would be proud if I had a viking funeral. I think I’ll be cremated as he was and have my ashes scattered among the fjords of Norway.

@anartist An old one now. The Valkyries won’t likely be picking me up off a battlefield now. I did like the Berlin Oper version where they did it with motorcycles.

@SeventhSense If my body wouldn’t be so valuable for organ donation and scientific education, I think that is how I would want to go. Viking funerals are beautiful ceremonies.