To be scared of death?

[Nowtherave]

Normally I am such a positive person, but lately a member of my extended family has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. I feel very very sad for them and their family of course, but selfishly, I also feel like a six year old again, lying in bed worrying that my parents might die. How do you deal with the idea of death? I have no religion so to me I think I struggle comprehending the idea of nothingness. I want to leave something behind, to not be forgotten, but should it matter if I am not there anyway to see myself being remembered?

expat so sorry. Makes you think doesn't it, here's us all worrying about death, yet children face that on wards in hospitals though out the land every day; I cannot even begin to imagine how they cope with it. ( - seems insignificant)

I used to be absolutely petrified of death literally in a cold sweat kind of way. For me, it was losing any semblance of faith that actually removed that fear as I think it was actually a deep seated fear of going to hell (DM took me to some very Old Testament churches).
I really do think of it now as just going to sleep. I've also sat with a couple of loved ones when they've passed away and it was very peaceful
I think that being conscious beings makes it very hard for many of us to imagine simply ceasing to exist- DS2 is quite a few years younger than my older 2 and he still struggles to understand when He looks at photos of our family before he came along and, when I try to explain that he hadn't been born, he insists that he must have been in my tummy- it's as though he can't imagine himself simply not being anywhere. I spent many years working with elderly people and I don't remember any of them being scared of death, they seemed to have made their peace with it and they would talk quite matter of factly about wills and funerals.
I remember a teacher telling me that the only certainty in life is death.
I sympathise with those of you struggling with this, I still remember those feelings.

I'm not scared of death but I am scared of growing old by myself, I've seen too much.