Is it normal that the thought of death makes me have panic attacks?

13 Comments

Is it normal that I sometimes late at night when I have no distractions in my life and my mind wanders that I get caught up on the idea that life is only temporary, goes by quick, and once you're gone that is it. Like literally, that's it. Forever and ever with no end. The only thing that goes on forever is us being dead. Non-existent. Gone. FOREVER. AND EVER. We won't think or feel ever again. We won't know we existed, we won't remember the life we lived, and everything that happens to us on a daily basis that we give importance to will have absolutely no meaning on anything. We won't know meaning because we won't be. FOREVER. Just to grasp my mind around nothingness, forever is what really gets to me so much that I want to die just to not have to worry about dying. I don't want any of you to worry about me committing suicide because I have goals and aspirations and I plan to live a happy successful life. But that doesn't change the facts of life. You live than you die, and only one of those sticks out in the long run. Death. I want to know if others out there also feel this dread, anxiety, depression, hatred, sense of unfairness about how life is just a tease to make you appreciate things only for you to die and never even know what appreciating was.

I feel your anguish 33
Now I'm scared 5
I believe in afterlife 4
I believe in reincarnation 7
I believe in God 11
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Comments ( 13 )
  • LornaMae
    10 years ago

    I feel sad mostly when I think about our finitude... I'll miss a lot of people when they're gone, but that is how it goes, it's the only thing we can be sure of in life, that it will eventually and necessarily end.

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  • thegypsysailor
    10 years ago

    Being a lot closer to death than most on here, I occasionally give it some thought. Mostly I feel sorrow for those who will miss me, but for myself, I only wish to go painlessly.
    The thought of nothing is quite comforting to me however, for the alternative as offered by the christians is absolutely terrifying. To sit around on a cloud, playing a harp with no sex, no booze, no pot and no broads, for eternity is certainly a fate even worse than their alternative; hell. Their afterlife?
    No, not for this old guy; let me be nothing for eternity.

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    • TheAnarchicalApairist
      10 years ago

      I just love the philosophy you gave us there. Lounging around on clouds for the rest of eternal fate seems quite unconventional. But wouldn't eternal nothingness be just as bad? You wouldn't have those privileges regardless, because non-existance is, well, non-existance. And plus, you seem to funny to be THAT old. You honestly don't seem old enough to care for infomercials, as do many of the seniors l know. And plus, there is not only one alternative to than sitting on a cloud and playing harps. I suck at music anyways. Reincarnation, for one, most commonly conceived worthy by the ancient Egyptians. Live another life, die, live, die. I would believe that to be an exceptional fate, though l distrust any afterlife propaganda. Eternal nothingness sounds more pragmatic.

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      • thegypsysailor
        10 years ago

        Eternal nothingness beats eternal boredom, for me. The biggest problem with reincarnation is you might come back as a worm or microbe, both unappealing to me.
        As for infomercials, I don't get TV in any anchorage in the West Indies, and it's certainly more fun to come on here than watch infomercials on the web. Anyway, my money is better spent on diesel fuel and boat parts, though a set of night vision glasses (if you see one on the infomercials cheap, buy it for me, please) would be handy for watching the cute girls moon bathing.

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        • TheAnarchicalApairist
          10 years ago

          Fair point. But if you were a microbe, you'd have a good chance of dying quickly, and reincarnating again as something else. And as a western folk, I can say the water here is always bloody cold and traveling to Alaska or where else seems less appealing than traveling to the West Indies. And I'm pretty sure infomercials only advertise face-lift products and hair curlers. But if that's what you're into, I won't judge. ;)

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  • [Old Memory]
    10 years ago

    I don't agree with any of your answers.
    I don't know what happens after death, but it shouldn't really make a difference.
    Even if nothing happens, that's not so bad. At least not nearly as bad as what a lot of religious people thinks happens to people who don't agree with them.
    There's not much to do about it, so there's no reason to worry about it.

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  • Tommythecat.
    10 years ago

    You got no fuckin' idea what happens after death so just sit tight.

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    • TheMightyOz
      10 years ago

      Since you are alive now, why not think about life? You can even have sex to produce tiny monsters like yourself to continue living after you are gone. Remember that life is futile but it is even more futile to worry about the futility of life. Unless you perhaps consider creating GMO microbes to terraform the atmosphere of Venus.

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      • Tommythecat.
        10 years ago

        I do.

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  • [Old Memory]
    10 years ago

    YES, I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN! Finally someone who has written my thoughts out practically word for word! And when I get on one of my thinking "sprees" about this topic, I look it up on the internet, to see what other people have to say about it. Whenever people say, for example "Focus on life" or "It will be peaceful" I think: Don't try to distract me, okay...?

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  • Lonely2
    10 years ago

    I think most people are aware of death, but thet dont dwell on it...you are experiencing anxiety..and fear of death is the form of anxiety you most experiemce....I dont fear death too much..more that bad things will happem to me while I am alive

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  • anti-hero
    10 years ago

    Bummer.

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  • handsignals
    10 years ago

    Wobble dee wobble dee drop
    Into my grave plot
    You afraid of death
    Well I'm afraid not

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