Does your own mortality make you frightened?

Question

This is a sincere question, I am in my early thirties and have realised recently that I am going to die, in my twenties I think I didnt really acknowledge the fact but now the thought that I am definiately going to die and I dont know when or how totally spins me out. I spend far too much time thinking about it and obsessing and frankly im terrified. Does anyone else get spun out by this or do most people accept the inevitability?

Answer 1

I think everyone worries about their own mortality from time to time and that is completely normal. However, these thoughts seem to be causing you much distress and I wonder why these thoughts have suddenly been triggered. Has someone close to you died recently or are you feeling depressed at the moment. I ask these questions because a sudden onset of anxiety over mortality can be a symptom of depression. Maybe these thoughts are alarm bells telling you that you need to take stock of your life and where you are going in your future.

Answer 2

I'm lucky because it doesn't frighten me!
Perhaps because of my age and career. I'm nearing 60 and a careworker for the elderly and disabled.
I've known a lot of people die and even been with some at the time. I've known many who wished they could die when pain or loneliness has got too much for them.
I don't know What if anything happens, afterwards I just know that some day it will. It's inevitable but unknowable and I've never been scared of the 'unknown' Neither do I have or need, any 'religious' beliefs to provide comfort.
I just don't think it worth worrying about!

LIVE your life NOW! and let tomorrow take care of itself.

Answer 3

I have had this in my head actuallly since i was about thirteen and frankly it bothered me so much as a teen that it made me suicidal. Then about 28 it stopped bothering me and i realized there is nothing i can do it is going to happen whethere i think about it or worry about it or am scared about it. So why waste what was left of my life on it. So what i am saying is yes your going to do die but don't dwell fill you life with happiness and look for the good every day. It's going to happen whether you want it to or not.

If it helps keep a notebook and in it write all your dreams and accomplishments and when you start thinking about being scared and terrified of death pull it out and start thinking about dreams and accomplishments instead.

Answer 4

Well i'm 16 and don't know more than you but the thurth is that we all know the fear of death, and we handle it differently. What we really need sometimes is some good humour and things in our life interesting enough that will make us forget about the fact that we are going to die. Do you love someone? Does someone love you? Look for those people that will help you get over your fear of death, you would be surprised how many people share your fear. You can't just get over it but you can diminish the fear with other things. If our advise doesn't help then look for the people that know a great deal more. In books there's Edgar Allen Poe, J.K. Rowling, and loads more. In films there's "Life is beautiful," and "Crash."

Answer 5

I think you have to accept the inevitability of it. There is nothing you can do to avoid it after all.
I think if you over analyse the situation you will spend however long you have to live thinking about death, and not living your life - that would be a waste.
Accept that you are going to die, accept that you can't know when, and live each day to the full.
I am not afraid of dieing, but I do worry somewhat about the people I will leave behind.

Answer 6

Mankind has alwayss been fearful of the unknown. Most people are afraid of the dark. It starts as a child and we eventually grow up and get used to the dark and lose our fear of it. Some don't ever lose the fear. That is why when people write about fearful things they are always given a dark color. The bad guy who is hated and feared alway wears black. Death carries a sickle and a black robe. Death is an unknown to us and therefore it has a dark and ominous connotations to us. So yes most people fear it like the fear the unknown. Only the courageous do no fear death. True Christians do not fear death because they see it not as an ending but as a beginning to the afterlife where they will meet their maker and if they have lived the good life they believed they have then they will enjoy meeting their God and living in Heaven in the life after death. I am a Christian and I have live a good life so I do not fear life and have met others in and out of the church who do not fear it but I believe that those who fear it far exceed those who do not. If being terrified by the thought of death bothers you maybe you should go to a church and get some faith. Start to learn that death is not to be feared if you are prepared for it and preparation is a state of mind that you can put your self in and learn not to be overwhelmed by the thought of death.

Answer 7

I think everyone probably thinks about it sometimes. I've thought about it, too, but it doesn't scare me, I know what lies beyond is way better than what we have to endure on this earth. I know I'll be reunited with my family and pets that have gone on before me. This is not based on any religion, I feel this way because I'm very spiritual. I've read many stories about people who have had NDEs (near death experiences), and they have given me a lot of comfort, also. Here is a link, I guarantee if you take the time to read some of these stories from people who have experienced it, you will be comforted too.
http://www.nderf.org/

Answer 8

All you've got to realise is how small a cog you are in this whole universe and of course it's inevitable just like all the people before you and all the people after you,if it's any consolation I'm going to die too and you'll never know when or how,so doesn't that prove how insignificant we all are.

Answer 9

No?
Never believe when someone tells you they are NOT afraid of death--this "person" would not be "human" if they were telling the truth.
Beads made of shells for stringing onto necklaces were some of the first things "some" early humans in southern Africa used as self-identification. "Look at me, the one with the unique blue and yellow necklace, that's me alright!" It likely was not too long before this period that they began to conceive of themselves "as" individuals. "Individual death" could not be fully recognized (feared!) until "self-identification" became prominent.
Look at us today! Gap to Gucci...Ford to Ferrari...

We know who we are now...cool or not cool...
We are ALL nearly magical beings bearing the curse of intelligence...packing the unsolicited knowledge that is the gray cloud that is our fate, death.
We all know we are going to die.
"Fear of death" and "living" are the same thing!
Once we became self-aware we better recognized the reality of our fate--that "WE TOO" are going to die, "just like 'Thag with the orange beads' did last week!" Our response to the bad news of individual death was that we became even smarter--to hold off the bad news for as long as possible.
"Fear of death" and "HIGH" intelligence are the same thing!

Don't believe them...if they are human, they are afraid, they have to be, they're too smart NOT to be afraid!

I hope the above is not too cold--I am saying that we fear because we are incredible creatures...that we "are" so intelligent is a double-edge sword though. Maybe some day we will blunt the unwanted side, somehow (AI ?).
Until then we have to try to be as happy as we can with this flesh and blood, temporal existence...

Answer 10

I wake up at night sometimes thinking about my own death. What freaks me out is not that I will die someday but that there may be no afterlife or soul that lives on. I fear that death may be like turning off a light switch permanently. I start thinking about how I will be dead for all eternity and that there is no point to anything that happens in our lives because it all end with nothingness. So to answer your question, yes you are completely normal to have these feelings.