# Overwhelming fear of death



## Kittyfreak (Jun 14, 2012)

I'm not sure if this is the right section, but yeah..

As an atheist, lacking in the belief of an afterlife- I often find myself struggling with the thought of non existence. Other times, I just cannot dear with the thought of growing old and dying. I have frequent anxiety attacks about dying, I have intense anxiety triggered by it at night while trying to sleep, I have frequent, almost constant nightmares about myself or people in my life dying horrifically. 

I wish I could force ignorance on myself, I wish I could believe in a deity.
The anxiety I face because of this fear is crippling and interferes with my life every day. 

I feel like I'm going to be living my life in complete fear of death, then dying..not having done anything with my life because I was always so scared.

I don't know what to do or how to control it. 


Does anyone have any advise or stories to share?


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## Octal (Aug 2, 2011)

Don't have any personal advice, but I'll use a quote from Mark Twain that I've posted in similar threads here.

"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."


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## MachineSupremacist (Jun 9, 2012)

I can't find the quote but I think it was Arthur C. Clarke who declined an offer to be cryogenically frozen, citing that he was constantly changing and effectively a different person every couple of years anyway.

Nothing is permanent, and that can be a hard thing when you're looking for a sense of security, but it's possible to accept that and live in the present.


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## Farideh (Nov 13, 2011)

It's a sad fact that we cannot escape death. It's eventually going to happen to all of us. Just try to accept it.


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## Luna Sea (Apr 4, 2012)

If you don't believe there's anything after life, there's nothing to worry about. It'll happen at some point, can't be avoided and then you won't even know it when it happens.


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## introvert33 (Jun 23, 2010)

Someone close to me has your same fears, and I have a hard time giving comfort for that. I myself don't fear death, but can see how most things said aren't really that helpful. I guess I would just advise that its the out of control worry and anxiety that is a problem, its ok to fear death, but try and figure out ways to break thought patterns that obsess.


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## Hopeful25 (Aug 8, 2011)

I've been feeling similar lately honestly, not sure why. Maybe it's because I spend so much time around people who believe there's afterlife that it's an unavoidable topic for me. 

I just think of life as an opportunity overall. I don't have to be alive now, you don't have to be alive now. Yet we are. That's something to be happy about. The way I see it, death more likely than not is a loong way from now for me, so why fuss about it? 

I'm here, I'm going to do whatever I do here, hopefully have a family, and leave :stu. Maybe if I'm really lucky they'll come up with some kind of life extending technology that will make people immortal, but I'm not getting my hopes up lol


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## rgrwng (Aug 25, 2011)

i wake up in the middle of the night in sweat thinking or dreaming about it. what makes me wake up quickest is when i have the thought that all my stuff will be gone - like my computers, television, and friends. and the fact that you don't wake up sucks, as well. in my dreams, i dream that i have actually died, and i dream about not waking up, at which point i wake up scared and sweaty.

many times i think about "well, i was non-existent until i was born" and that scares me 3 times more. images of skeletons also throw me over the edge, because i will eventually become one.


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## Kittyfreak (Jun 14, 2012)

introvert33 said:


> Someone close to me has your same fears, and I have a hard time giving comfort for that. I myself don't fear death, but can see how most things said aren't really that helpful. I guess I would just advise that its the out of control worry and anxiety that is a problem, its ok to fear death, but try and figure out ways to break thought patterns that obsess.


Thank you, I am so glad you understand >.< I always get the same advise, about it happening to everyone etc and it doesn't help, but i keep looking to see if i can find someone with some magic advice that changes everything. Blah. 
It feels like this unstoppable gripping fear that just tears through my life.


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## Your dreaming WAKE UP (Feb 11, 2012)

The inconceivable idea that we won't even exist for eternity scares me as well...


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