I am. I held my mother's hand in hospice when she passed away. It was a very profound and peaceful experience to watch someone take their last breath and it will live within me forever. But 5 years after she passed away I find that I am terrified of death. More precisely, I'm terrified of a violent death. When I fly, I think of what it would be like to be in a plane that was crashing. When I drive I think of what if would be like if my car got hit by an 18 wheeler. I have young kids and recognize that this is a real anxiety producing fear that I won't be fortunate like my mother to die peacefully in my 80s but through a violent event.

I'm a Hospice Minister and spend time with dying people nearly every day. I've had the sacred honor of being present at more deaths than I could count. I love my life. I love my family. I hope I get to hang out here on Earth for a long time. But I don't fear death at all. I became a hospice minister after a near death experience. That has a lot to do with the lack of fear.

When I lost my mom, it was the first time I really considered my mortality. After my son graduated high school, I stopped fearing death in the way you normally would when you have a big responsibility to finish. Like others, I would not want to linger or suffer, but I don't really fear death. But of course, ask me again when it's right in front of me.

Yes. I am scared and very angry about the idea of missing out on all the rest of the world after I die, it seems so unfair that we only get one life time. I don't understand why that isn't something we talk about all the time. I appreciated it on "The Good Place" when a non - human character got a sense of mortality for the first time, said "how do humans live like this?!" And was told that we're all a little sad, all the time, because of it. And then it struck me as bizarre that I don't think I've ever seen a comedy, and little other pop culture, that acknowledges we're all going to die. It's not part of American culture like it was in the Puritan era.

I am so sorry for your loss, OP.

I almost died in my 40s, twenty years ago, and realized then that I was not afraid to die. I'm glad I didn't though. On the other hand, I am sort of afraid of suffering.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Terrified as I want to live to see my teen and tween kids become adults and would miss them so much.

I know I wouldn't miss mine if I were gone because I do believe where you go you aren't able to miss people. But oh my gosh my kids NEED me. It's not even the loss of my life that scares me. It is what my loss and absence would do to their lives.

Same here. I can't imagine my kids not having mommy around :-/

Anonymous wrote:OP its normal to dwell on death when someone close to you passes away. And its normal to worry that you and all your remaining loved ones are going to expire soon.

Its part of the grieving process which is not linear or the same for everyone at all, so please mitigate your fears in this knowledge.

OP here. Thank you for this.

To the other PPs, thank you for weighing in with your thoughts. Please keep them coming.

Anonymous wrote:Terrified as I want to live to see my teen and tween kids become adults and would miss them so much.

I know I wouldn't miss mine if I were gone because I do believe where you go you aren't able to miss people. But oh my gosh my kids NEED me. It's not even the loss of my life that scares me. It is what my loss and absence would do to their lives.

Terrified as I want to live to see my teen and tween kids become adults and would miss them so much.

I still have too many things I want/need to do. After I'm old and tired, I don't want to be around. My family is cursed with longevity though

Anonymous wrote:Having almost done it, I can tell you with certainty that exsanguination (bleeding-out) is absolutely painless.

Whatever pain is associated with the injury to the blood vessel that causes the bleeding is the only pain encountered in the process.

You get very tired, extremely thirsty, and then you pass out.

That's about it.

Well thanks for promoting death by one's hand? WTF?

Anonymous wrote:The process of it? Mildly. Hopefully it won't be a long drawn out painful process.

Actually BEING dead? No. Not at all.

+1.

Death fascinates me. I'm not afraid of it. And once you are dead, there's nothing to be afraid of.

However, I do not enjoy pain or being ill, so I hope I go quickly (and ideally, interestingly) when it's my time to go.

Recently I am freakishly afraid of it. For some reason crossing through those really wide intersections where you can't see if anyone is coming across in the opposite direction because of the stopped lanes that are turning - that's bothering me a lot lately. Every time I think some car is going to come screaming through and blindside me.

At both my kids singalongs last week I was very uneasy when I realized what easy targets for a shooter we made, all sitting in an enclosed space in large numbers like that. Highly unusual for me. I could not get the idea out of my head.

Not at all afraid of death.

I believe strongly in an after-life, and that our existence earth is just one of the many plains in which we live.

What actually makes me "afraid" is how sad my family will be.

Not of death itself and not really even of physical pain - I am afraid, as other have said, about dementia. I do believe in an afterlife and a reunion with loved ones in a way that I don;t know or understand. Not the heaven concept certainly - but something.