To ask if you are not scared of death - what is your reason?

[Vilanelle]

For me, I am petrified of the idea. I wouldn't say it consumes me but if I do think about it, a wave of panic goes through me.

Do you think it is like birth - you don't know about it?

I had a dream last night that I was in a car accident and it felt like I could feel the life drawing out of me.

I can't wrap my head around the thought of not having any thoughts and just being nothing.

I would like to become more at peace with the though of dying, after all no one is getting out of here alive!

Tell me about your thoughts on death?

This thread is weirdly pleasant. Reading people contemplating the end as calm and not fearful.

The idea of non-existance I find a tad tricky.

If I die and there's nothingness, well, what a waste.
But I didnt exist before now, and if I don't exist after. I guess that's also a version of peace.

But Billions of people lived before me, 7 billion people exist right now and will all die. So I sometimes find that comforting as a unifier. It's not personal to me.

I'm a CHRISTIAN. The bible says that death is like sleep. We never really know how much time has passed when we're asleep and we trust we'll wake up again each morning. So I trust that even though my flesh form will be gone, my spirit will wake from death's sleep in the end, by Jehovah God's grace.

Death itself doesn't scare me. The lion king quote about when we die our bodies become the grass always reassured me.

I tend to believe that once we die that's it we are gone. So whatever pain or suffering I may have been I on the run up will be gone. The only thing that concerns me is the thought of dying while my children are young because I'd hate to leave them.

I don't want to die, but I'm not actively scared about it as a process either.

I used to be. Used to think about it quite a lot actually then my first baby was stillborn and the fear disappeared. For a while I would have welcomed it tbh. Now I have a dd and the fear is returning slightly for the fact that I couldn't bare to leave her. Obviously circle of life and all that but I hope I will get to see her grow and be the one to nurture her through life.

It's not death nor the actual act of dying that scares me. It's not being able to be with my children that scares me. Even though I know I won't 'know' I'm not with them anymore. It's knowing the sadness they'll go through after I'm gone - I'm not bigging myself up here lol, I lost my mum 8 years ago who I wasn't particularly close to and it threw me how grief-stricken I was. I don't want that for them.

If by some miracle I'm still alive in my 80s, old, infirm, with possible dementia then I imagine death to be a blessed relief. I will have lived my life by then and be ready.

But death, hell I could do with a rest.

I have some sort of belief that I will see my sister again. There is a line from the film Gladiator - something like ‘see you in the afterlife but not yet’ that brought me comfort after she died when I was 22. That and the song Pure Shores by the all saints. I relate those lyrics to dying after a good life. My idea is that I will live my life first and then after death I will see a bigger picture somehow.

Of course that may not be true but if not then as others have said it would be like before I was born.

I also put off the fear of death by thinking it will be a long time in the future and that a reasonable number of people in their 80s and 90s seem to have lost their fear of dying and I hope I will be in that case when the time comes for me.

Also there are some comforting things to read about the dying process and palliative care although I know it isn’t that way for everyone. But it is possible to have a peaceful death and we are lucky to live in the time of morphine.

If we were going to live for ever then there would be less urgency to do what we wanted to do now.

I am not at all concerned about death. I watched my mum die last year and it was just not scary at all. It's bad for the people left behind.

How can anyone be scared of nothing? It doesn't make sense to me. It's not like you'll be looking back at your death thing 'oh that was bad'. There will just be nothing.
That's my take on it anyway I know people have different beliefs and I respect that.

I don't want to die in pain but I am not scared of actually dying as it's the one certainty in life.

I do worry about those being left behind and hope they will be ok.

There is a line from the film Gladiator - something like ‘see you in the afterlife but not yet’

For some reason, it was the line that jumped into my head as I read my way through the thread. . It was ”now we are free... and we’ll see you again. But not yet. Not yet.”

You just fall asleep.

Well, I feel it's a bit pointless to be scared of death because there's nothing I can do to stop it from happening. That I am not immortal is a fact that I simply have to face. However, I am apprehensive about the potential loss of my mobility, independence and mental capacity in later life. That does scare me a bit.

I think that if there is an afterlife and some sort of big 'master plan', then dying will be no different than sleeping and waking up to a new day (in the grand scheme of things).

If there is only an ending, and no deeper layer of planning/meaning, then this is not a world or life I would ever have wanted to be part of, and would be happy to 'end game' out of it.

I'm not scared of death apart from not wanting it to be agonizing and long.
What I am scared off is losing my parents, partner, other family, my beloved pets etc.
The pain of those left behind, that scares me.

I've "died" twice with multiple near misses. The first time I was in a coma on a lot of drugs, so I can't be sure at what times in my "dreams"/hallucinations it happened.

The second time I was very aware of it. The beforehand, when I was struggling for breath and didn't know what was going on was terrifying. My organs were all shutting down. The dying part was almost a relief. I just got really woozy, and my eyes stopped working, so I thought I was just going to sleep. I could hear everything going on, with the doctors and nurses rushing me back to ICU and manhandling me about. I wasn't scared at all. It was as if I was finally going to be able to rest. Everything slowly slipped away into nothing. (It then came back with a jolt when they saved me).

I don't have a fear of dying...I worry about my children and my family having to deal with my death. Of never seeing them grow up....but realistically if I die, I won't worry, because I wouldn't be aware.

So no, death doesn't scare me...what it'd cause for my loved ones does.

I think that dying will be like waking up from a dream

Only two things in life are certain:

1.Death
2.At the time of our death, no matter how many years in the future, DFS will have a sale on.

Rev Ruth Scott gave an amazing interview around a week before she died and she didn’t seem scared. I think the podcast is still available - search her name in podcasts - the interview is with Chris Evans who handles it well imo even if you don’t normally like him.

I'm not worried about death at all. It's inevitable, universal and I think we all go back to wherever we were before we were born - it's not an unknown, it's falling asleep and going home.

I'm not scared of death but of dying painfully. I fear my mother's death way more than anything and as she ages and is now mid 70s. I think about it most weeks as I can see her begin to slow down with things and it terrifies me to the point where I am actively preparing for it - making a point of taking pictures, recording her voice etc....all the things I would miss I am making sure I have them before the worst happens.

For me, it's the knowledge that this is the circle of life. We're born and we die, there's absolutely nothing we can do to stop either. We can try to prolong our lives by eating healthily and not taking risks but at the end of the day, it comes to us all.

I often worry that hardly anyone will turn up to my funeral. Silly really because I wont be alive to know anyway

I used to be really scared of death. I have recently had a horrible experience and that made me realise that there are things worse than death, and I don't fear it at all any more.
I do fear losing the people I love. I hope I go first, selfishly.

I'm really frightened of death. I think it stems from losing my dad suddenly at 7. I never worried about dying at all until the day after I brought my now 13 year old from hospital. I think because I know how hard I found it as a child. I've not been brought up religious and I think people who believe in life after death are really lucky

I don't think any of us look forward eagerly to our eventual demise. Hopefully it will come after a good long life, but that doesn't mean we are petrified at the prospect. It's not as if it won't happen one day.

I worry about other people dying - my parents, DH, kids - but usually I can push it to the back of my mind. If I dwell on it too long I feel overwhelmed by a sort of panic so try my best not to!

My own death ... I’m a bit scared of the admittedly remote Chance of there being an unpleasant afterlife and also the possibility of a painful/ unpleasant death. Also, and it sounds a bit narcissistic I suppose, I feel sort of sad at the prospect of not being here. Life in many ways is so amazing and I feel sad at the thought no longer being able to see beautiful sights, or feel love, or hold my children etc etc.