Death - do you fear it?

[DarthVader]

I think our society sidelines death and that we should discuss it more.

So, does it scare you?

Not in the least bit scared of it. It's harder to watch someone else die.

The thought of DS being motherless scares me senseless though, so in that way I guess I fear dying.

does it not terrify you to think of the alternative though? say living forever? i know that definately does me! i think 80 odd years is a good old age to pop your clogs ;)

I hate the thought of DS dying though - much more than me. In fact it terrifies me that he will

absolutely. Sometimes at night my blood runs cold as I force myself (irrationally) to think about it and try to get my head around it. Then I have to get up and find someone to cuddle and calm me.

I love my life. I don't want to leave it.

lol TMMJ i meant for me!

I asked my granny once if she was scared of death and whilst i think she loves life, she did say that its gets very tiresome once you reach her age (70ish at the time, 81 now.) and that you cant do as much as you once could do, so in some ways no she wasnt scared.

I am starting to get very very jittery about death. My mum died when I was 9 and my brother was 7. For years I got comfort from a converstaion she'd had with my gran only a few weeks before she died in which she said that she'd had such a fantastic and interesting life that, apart from watching me and my db grow up, she could quite happily die tomorrow. She died very suddenly soon after in a freak riding accident.

But now I have dds of my own, I am very fearful of them being without me as I know what I missed as a child after the age of 9. At the time, growing up, I think we all coped well considering (me better than my brother though), but now I have children of my own, I feel a huge gaping hole where she should be. When dd1 is 9 I will be 42 - the age my mum died and that has really freaked me out for some time as 42 seems so very very young now. I can't help thinking now that if my mum had known what I know now, she never would have said that to my gran, IYSWIM. I try to lead my life in a 'joyful' way, as my mum did: I look forward to little things in life, I am outgoing, optimistic and very happy.... but there is this grey spectre that seems to be getting nearer (maybe the closer I get to 42?) and it scares me absolutely shitless.

and apart from anything else, I ahte missing out on things and to die and leave everything and everyone behind would be like leaving the party early - I just don't want to do it!

MMJ, what I meant was, as you get older, you might want to hang onto every second. Not die at all.
But when you are younger it seems so far off, that you are more rleaxed - it will happen when it is my time.

I'm putting off fearing death until I see it on the horizon. had a horrid dream the other night that I had cancerous growths all over me and that seemed a bit terminal.

Didn't fear childbirth much until I went into labour. Especially the 2nd and 3rd times. Oo er, here we go again!

Mummydoit - we can live on in the memories of those who survive us. The more loved a person is, the more likely they are to stay in the memory.

On the other hand, Hitler is one of the most remembered historical figures of the 20th century.

Yes I'm terrified of death and think about it a lot, probably got something to do with my mum dying of cancer 15 months ago. The thing that terrifies me the most is dp dying (obviously dc dying too). It's kind of selfish though, I have no support at all and would be completely alone which just scares the living daylights out of me, although dp is 18 years older than me, his family are longer lived.

I kind of assume that I won't have a long life (dad died aged 48, mum 59), so just hope I see my children in to adulthood. The thought of an afterlife scares me more than the thought of oblivion, imagine being me for eternity lol I'm sick of my self now nevermind after 100030493489 years

Very interesting question btw

No, I don't fear death. It is inevitable so what's the point of fearing something that you will definitely face at some stage or other - wasted emotion imo.

However, I very much fear the emotional fall out that my death will cause to my family and loved ones.

I dont fear death. I know that after this life, as a christian I will be with the Lord.

I am enjoying life and want to live a long and healthy life.

I wish everyone could experience what I have, as a christian.

Everyone has a free will what they do in this life which determines what happens thereafter.

I have slightly feared the process of dying since I saw my mum's last weeks. The details of her death were so ugly, so sordid, so bleak in small meaningless ways.

But actual death? No. Far less frightening than being alive.

I'm not afraid of dying, nothing to be afraid of, you're just not there any more. I went through a spell of worrying about it in terms of worry about DS (I am a single mum and had this horrible redurring fear that I would drop dead and he would be alone and hungry and would anyone find him? Brrr!) I worry about that less now as he is 3.8 and could draw enough attention to himself to make sure someone heard and rescued him from the house.

I'm not wild about the idea of a painful death, being eviscerated by a lunatic or some slow degenerative disease, but being dead doesn't bother me.

I'm not afraid of dying, nothing to be afraid of, you're just not there any more. I went through a spell of worrying about it in terms of worry about DS (I am a single mum and had this horrible redurring fear that I would drop dead and he would be alone and hungry and would anyone find him? Brrr!) I worry about that less now as he is 3.8 and could draw enough attention to himself to make sure someone heard and rescued him from the house.

I'm not wild about the idea of a painful death, being eviscerated by a lunatic or some slow degenerative disease, but being dead doesn't bother me.

I have a real struggle with it. I can muster up a calm, philosophical way of seeing it, where I accept the idea. But parallel to that, I am terrified and have night terrors about me or any of my immediate family dying. When I get like that, I find it unbearable that people can die, especially "before their time" as it were. I want myself and everyone I know to live to well over 80 and be in a state of happy acceptance when they time comes. I often really wish that was how life worked, that you couldn't die until you were old and at peace.

A friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with melanoma and the the thought that it could take him away just does my head in (he's in his 40s). As others have said, when I try to confront it head-on I often just can't get my head round it.

I am literally in tears now at the thought of my children surviving my premature death -- bleak and empty because their mother has left them for ever.

I should have stayed away from this thread.

Not scared of my own death. More worried by the preceding decay.

Am in near constant fear about deaths of those close to me though.

I always wonder when people say 'no i'm not scared, because i will simply not exist anymore - what's to be scared of?' - How on earth can the idea of your very soul/consciousness/everything unique about you that makes you who you are, just disappearing not scare you?

apologies for my hopeless punctuation

Is it scary? I suppose it depends on whther or not you believe in an afterlife.
I think I do and yet I feel a little sweaty when I think deeply of no longer existing in my preset form.