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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

292 replies

Vilanelle · 14/06/2019 09:38

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?

OP posts:
keepingbees · 14/06/2019 20:22

I don't want to leave my children but I won't be sad to leave this world. I've never felt I belong here.

Floopily · 14/06/2019 20:30

It's just the end of a chapter isn't it though? I'd be less than thrilled at a long lonely painful death for obvious reasons but if it's just my time is up and the lights are being switched off then no I'm not scared of that at all. I have a lovely life and I'm happy but at some point it has to be over and I'm ok with that. I'd rather DH and I went together though, I hate to think of him without me and vice versa. I don't have DCs, I wonder if that makes a difference to how I feel about it?

MyNameIsArthur · 14/06/2019 20:32

Life has been tough so sometimes I think It would be easier not to be here. But then I think how sad it would be not to be around to see my adult children's lives progress and to be called granddad one day or to witness humans landing on mars or to no more see flowers and stars and butterflies and birds and rainbows etc. I am lucky in that since the 13 billion years when the universe was formed that I have been allowed a little dot of life which I know will go quickly in the scheme of things.

Jinxed2 · 14/06/2019 20:35

I sometimes get a wave of panic when I think that one day I won’t be here any more. It’s strange. I worry about dying painfully after watching my nan die in pain.

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 14/06/2019 20:36

I've always been fascinated by it. We spent a Day of the Dead in Mexico once at Teotihuacan and I think they have a far healthier attitude. My Great Grandmother used to lay out the dead and assist with births in a tiny little village and she was so laid back about it, that it was universal but also women's work like birth. She had a jar of coins for the ferryman that I used to hate as a kid but the older I get, the more I see her point.

Plus my Grandmothers are 97 and 95 respectively, neither have great quality of life, both have buried husbands and sons...I think death must come as a blessing eventually.

PookieDo · 14/06/2019 20:58

I went to a funeral today of someone who died relatively young and it was the pain on everyone’s faces that got me. I know the person who passed wasn’t in pain and doesn’t know what happened, but we know. And it hurts

cunningartificer · 14/06/2019 20:59

If you have faith in an afterlife, then death isn’t so frightening—if you don’t, it shouldn’t be, as it’ll be like going to sleep. I was very struck by something a very wise person once said to me: “if babies knew about birth, they might be scared of it as we are of death, not knowing all the love and wonder there is ahead of them in life”. That’s a lovely thought.

ragged · 14/06/2019 21:09

I want to die without fear. Then death won't be bad experience, I reckon.

I used to be mildly terrified but now I'm more stoic, pragmatic about it.
Quality of life matters much more than quantity, imho.
I'm another one who doesn't fit in, and lots of things (about the way the world is) seem so exhausting as I get older. I won't miss the aggro.

oneforthepain · 14/06/2019 21:21

Being dead isn't scary as such, but the thought of having to endure this much suffering only to be completely wiped out of existence by way of a conclusion profoundly depresses me. What's the point of fighting to survive.

The scary part is simply the prospect of the depths of suffering that may be reached in between.

oneforthepain · 14/06/2019 21:26

The deaths I've had to witness were horrific and traumatic, both for the individuals dying and those around them, so I don't buy the "peaceful" bullshit.

AuntGinny · 14/06/2019 21:29

I used to be really scared, but now I think I'm more "fight" than "fight"

I think where I've had a few near misses now and just think that it's amazing what I've survived already. Like, to all intents and purposes I should be dead already so that makes me braver

PookieDo · 14/06/2019 21:30

Some people do die peacefully
Many of the people who I have loved have passed asleep/unconscious
But it is the concept of how it makes your loved ones feel to lose you that I don’t like

bellinisurge · 14/06/2019 21:31

We become the dust of the universe. I find that comforting.

maddiemookins16mum · 14/06/2019 21:31

I’m not scared of dying, I’m unlikely to know by the final point I expect (hope). I’m scared of what may lead to my death and and my DD losing her Mum. Mine died (at 80 after a short illness) but it was and still is awful.

Serin · 14/06/2019 21:47

I'm not afraid of dying, I dont have time to think about it!
Besides there are much worse things than being dead. I have worked with people who were resuscitated for far too long who had no quality of life whatsoever and were clearly in pain and distress.

MyDarlingWhatIfYouFly · 14/06/2019 21:47

I have a weird feeling about death, it's not fear exactly, more a hopeless feeling that in the vast eternity of time I'll only be here for 80 odd years (if I'm lucky) and they will be it. My one shot at existence and all through the rest of time I'll never exist again. Sometimes I wish I was religious as the thought of an afterlife would be very comforting.

Whosorrynow · 14/06/2019 21:57

I'm going to hold on until the singularity when I can upload my consciousness and become a cybernetic organism
it's bound to happen isn't it 😁

redexpat · 14/06/2019 21:59

Im a lot less scared now that my Dad has died. I figure I'll see him again and all of my and dhs lovely gps. I just dont want it to happen when my dc are children.

AsleepAllDay · 14/06/2019 22:02

Following

cluecu · 14/06/2019 22:03

I'm not scared of my own death as like a pp said, I was OK before I existed. But death in terms of people I love that are my own age or younger... No no no. I have been to lots of funerals but they've seemed other worldly as I guess they weren't my peers or direct family.

73kittycat73 · 14/06/2019 22:39

@fecketyfeck21
have had a few ghostly encounters while working though, but that's another thread

Would love to hear about them, if others don't mind? That's if you want to share of course. Smile

2toe · 14/06/2019 22:48

This is probably a really simplistic view but I just think I will either just cease to exist in any form so it won’t matter or I will exist in another form, neither of those things cause me fear or distress.

Haisuli · 14/06/2019 22:51

I freak about leaving the kids and sometimes count how many years to go till the youngest is 21. After that I don't think I'd be bothered. Being dead does t bother me at all..medical care and treatment, on the other hand, totally stresses me

DoingItForTheKids · 14/06/2019 23:02

I've seen 3 people die. At first it made me petrified of death. Now I've lived with it a bit/ got older it doesn't scare me. Being the people left behind is the worst bit. If I have a long, drawn out death I won't be happy but I take comfort that once I'm dead I won't know about it.

Tillygetsit · 14/06/2019 23:08

I've been very close to dying twice. I guess the novelty of being scared of it has worn off.