I'm afraid of DEATH?

Question

i'm not afraid of the unknown, i'm not religious, i don't believe in the afterlife or heaven or hell. i believe that when you are dead you are dead. i believe death is a way to make room for new life but i don't want that to happen. i'm basically afraid of what i'll miss after i'm dead and i'm afraid of the truth. only a small amount of people will remember me after i die and then they will die and my memory will be gone altogether unless i'm shakespeare or something. i don't know how to live my life day to day so i'm prepared at any moment to die and i always slip into a numb routine thats not actually living....what should i do!? i'm sure some of you are like this so what do you do about it? i didn't have a real question i just wanted to know what other people thought.

thanks for all your comments but now i'm starting to figure out what i need to do to live my life while i can. i think its because i have no real dreams or goals it seems like i'm just a lump in time so i can't really feel like i'm living. and thanks but i'm not looking for religion because i think that would make me feel ignorant of the truth. a lot of you said just live your life day to day but thats the thing i don't know how to do that. i'm in a school system where i'm being prepared for college to prepare me for a career and it doesn't make me feel like i'm actually progressing with my life. maybe its just a temporary phase or maybe i'm not challenging myself enough. but thanks again for your input and keep them coming please!

oh yeah and amanda i have read that book and i loved it. they made a movie out of it? i'm a little afraid to watch it....it couldn't be nearly as good as the book could it?

Answer 1

The world moves on, in 100 years we will all be dead and gone and who will remember us? no one. it is just a fact of life. That is why you should live each day as it was your last. always tell the ones that you love that you love them, and do what you can to make at least on person smile each and everyday.. Just remember..... People may not remember what you said or what you did, but they will remember how you made them feel.

Answer 2

All people feel the same way. It is only human to be afraid of situations that you can not control or don't know what to expect of. What matters is how you think of it. The key is to focus on the present. Don't think about death, focus on life. Make the best of life while you can, because its a morbid thought, but it will end some time, so make every day count. So many people look back at their life and are sickened by the fact that they spent so much time that they spent so much time being angry, spiteful, disappointed or unhappy. Don't spend your time being that way. Do what makes you happy because those are the moments that you will remember and that you will be remembered for. Don't worry about life ending, worry that it willl never begin.

As for your memory, you may only effect few people in your lifetime, but to these people the effect is unbelievable. To the people who love you, you have touched their lives forever. Try reading "The Five People You Meet in Heaven". It is a book by Mitch Albom and it is not really about religion at all despite the title. It is about a man who does not realize that throughout his ordinary life, he has made a difference to people that he has even just met for a brief period of time and that his life really did have a purpose. It is also a good movie. Believe me, even if it doesn't answer your questions about death, it will certainly show you that every life, no matter how boring, has a reason. I hope this helps. : )

Answer 3

That is why many people turn to religion, to find an answer, or hope of continuing living in any way, after death, because after all, EVERY BODY IN THE WORLD has the same fear, no one wants do die, everyone wants to keep living forever. Only that some are religious and some aren't.

I would say it would be harder for those who aren't. Because whether it's true or not, the other have a hope and that makes them live a bit happier, whether they believe in physical resurrection, heaven, limbo or hell.

Anyway, what you could do is try to become someone special, do something that influences a lot of people, if I thought like you, I would not be afraid of ANYTHING, except death of course.

Because people who are religious are always afraid of doing something wrong and screwing their chance for heaven or paradise, but you, what do you have to lose? Just stay alive and do anything that ever wanted to achieve. You'll go far!

Answer 4

If you believe that "when you are dead you are dead" then what is there to fear? Death is freedom. Why would that scare you. It sounds more like you are afraid of life-and that is justifiable, because unlike death, life requires much. The greatest fear is not death-it is to live in suffering and anguish or chronic pain ill health, or with a mind that is obsessed etc.
Your very first phrase was that you are "not afraid of the unknown" and yet everything you wrote after that is full of fear of the unknown, isn't it a contradiction. Trying to control life or death or anything is a useless chore. We are what we are until we are something else. Let the river take you...

Answer 5

Hello =)

That's the crux, isn't it....the fear of not being missed...or, perhaps, more precisely, the fear of no one noticing that you're not there...

Fear of insignificance, really.

Well, there is none of us, who will be remembered 100 years after our death....for a select few, their words, or deeds might be remembered, but not the persons themselves...

I mean, we don't have a clue about Jefferson, for example, and yet, he wrote diaries by the hundreds...and still people don't even know if he believed in God or Not!!!

No one, except a select handful of our closest family and friends really ever gets to know us well. And when those persons are gone, and the persons who knew them, well, we are lost....

It is the way of things...

One must come to terms with that at some point in one's life. But, I sense that you are young, so, you will have plenty of time for that to happen.

On the bright side, you won't be able to recognize that you aren't being missed, since there won't be any part of you able to recognize this still alive....so.....at least you are spared that horror...

And remember, like most things that we misunderstand, like snakes, wolves, and other wild animals....death is much more afraid of you, than you are of it.....LOL

Namaste, and Happy New Year,

--Tom

Answer 6

The thing is if one does not know who they are in reality then they will fear death.We are not these material bodies, ie; race, color, nationality, religion, job, senses, intellect, etc. We are eternal spirit souls, part and parcel of the Supreme Soul, also known as Krishna, Allah, Vishnu, Jehovah, etc. This world is called Maya (illusion) and is temporary and full of misery. We never die only the body dies that is going to happen for sure. The purpose of human life is to prepare for death so one does not have to come back to this material illusion again which is repeated birth, death, old age and disease. The eternal spiritual abode is full of bliss, and no birth death etc. go to krishnaculture. for details on the soul and death. Chant the Maha Mantra to get out of this cycle. Read Bhagavad Git as it is By Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada and fear death no more.

Answer 7

Sounds like you are concentrating so hard on death you have forgotten how to live. Don't make plans, make memories. Live, love, work, create, play, cry. These are the emotions and activities that make life what it is. If you truly want to "prepare" for death, then live life to it's fullest everyday. When your time comes...in those last fleeting moments..you can look back on your life, smile, and know you didn't waste the precious gift you were given.

Answer 8

each and every man or woman is fearful of death because they don't recognize something about it. human beings see that as not taking the present with no interest. on the present they don't seem to be fearful of death because which couldn't waht is on their minds. on the instantaneous they are fearful of being late or they have another reason ro driving like that.

Answer 9

I don't think you can actually prepare for death just because you never know at what moment it will come. Sure, some people have terminal illness but they don't know when they will die; they just have a guideline on when it might be. Best advice is to live everyday as if it was going to be your last......someday you're sure to be right.

Answer 10

thats just the way life works theres NOTHING you could do about it
thats why you always hear people saying enjoy it while it last and live life to the fullest,it sounds like your not really that afraid of dying but afraid to live life,don't worry about what your going to miss when your dead make it happen and you would have missed nothing you would have already lived it!