Is it normal to be scared of dying?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

do you mean this?

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[Behemoth]

It's quite normal, it's something that I've thought about. I know it really is the only certainty in life, but its playing on my mind more so at the moment because I've still got both sets of grandparents still living. One set aren't bad at all really they are a bit forgetful etc but generally ok.

The other set, well they don't got out at all anymore, my grandfather he can't hear, he can't see, he can't walk at all hardly, yet his mind is still strong but the body is weak, you wouldn't let a dog carry on like that, the poor sod is 90 and as harsh as this sounds I'd like to geta phone call to say that sadly he pased away in his sleep. Then my grandmother who is very forgetful and had a few falls las year well she may then give up. The sad thing is they are propping each other up and I know I think they want to go together really.

I guess I've been thinking more about dieing more so recently than ever because of the above, I think what scares me is well the end, I mean do you feel it, does everything just go black etc ? Oh god here comes tonights nightmare

[Sputnik]

but its playing on my mind more so at the moment because I've still got both sets of grandparents still living. One set aren't bad at all really they are a bit forgetful etc but generally ok.

That is what really brought it home to me, When my grandparents died. It really made me think about life and death.

[melon]

I'm a gamer, i have many lives.

The thing that gets me mainly is the concept. I could probably make it clearer in the OP but just the opposite of getting up everyday and so on, even menial tasks, i just can't imagine not doing.

I am on first name basis with death , we are very old friends...

m

[Terbinator]

I am on first name basis with death , we are very old friends...

m

So do you mean do i have nightmares or dislike sleeping? Going to sleep doesn't scare me because a.) I got to bed with premise of knowing i'm going to get back up and b.) I'm quite an active dreamer so its rare i don't have a dream, but if i don't, that doesn't bother me either. I don't really get nightmares either, especially not in relation to dying.

However, as biscuit's mentioned, i can't imagine going to sleep and that being it. Even taking the cliche of 'it all goes dark', i sometimes experience it just before i'm fully awake and my eyes are still shut, but conceptually i can't make the jump between that and never waking up. so the only other situation when i've come close to something like that was being anaesthetised (general) in the dentist i suppose, but even that didn't really bother me before or after.

[melon]

So do you mean do i have nightmares or dislike sleeping? Going to sleep doesn't scare me because a.) I got to bed with premise of knowing i'm going to get back up .

So you believe you are in control of your self when your asleep ?

m

[IBM]

I am on first name basis with death , we are very old friends...

m

Is it Engelbert? Please let it be Engelbert.

Does he have a middle name?

[BlackDwarf]

I see death as an inevitable fate, and as such don't bother thinking about it.
Does closing my eyes one day and not waking up bother me? Meh, not really. You're more likely to die from something hideous and painful. I'm more frightened of getting some hideous debilitating disease than dying.

As for if it's normal? 'Normal' is just a word made up by people who feel uncomfortable not being the same as everyone else. I, for one, enjoy not being normal.

[Ross1]

Given how your life is all you have, and once you die you are literally *nothing*, its pretty damn logical to be scared of dying.

[Noxvayl]

It is common for kids to be afraid of sleeping because they are uncertain about waking up, eventually they get over it thanks to experience showing that they will wake up. I think what you have described is just an extension of the same sort of feeling except you now recognise the difference between normal activities and the emptiness associated with death. I would imagine it is ok to be pondering this, you have managed to differentiate it with other things so you haven't developed a phobia or other mental illness which indicates you probably won't develop mental illness easily so I would imagine you are safe in that regard.

If you are worried about how much you ponder death I think you should start to note how often you find yourself thinking about it. If it remains steady I wouldn't be worried but should your thoughts about it increase in frequency there would be cause for concern. The other thing to be aware of is whether or not your thoughts on death start to intersect thoughts on normal activities, maintaining a difference between your abstractions on death on your thoughts about activities is crucial to avoid mental illness. As I said earlier I think you are safe with regards to conciousness of your orders of abstraction but it doesn't hurt to be more careful considering you are worried whether your current thoughts on death are normal or not.

As for myself I have pondered it often, I have gone through peaks and troughs with this idea and often found myself thinking life is futile. I got out of that cycle by recognising the different order of abstraction death is compared to living and how it is impossible to quantify and also how it has little impact on life. Whether or not you die doesn't change the enjoyment you get out of life, doesn't stop you from being able to appreciate things. The more I was able to separate death from life the less I found myself thinking about it and the more I enjoyed myself.

Death is like the ocean at the end of railway tracks, the train will go into it at some point but that doesn't stop the train from going through some beautiful countryside before then.

[billythewiz]

What concerns me is the number of people who are scared of living !

I don't relish the idea of dying prematurely. I want to see my kids grow up and then have the joy of being able to hand pooey nappied grand children back to their parents

I also want to take up sky diving (again) in my 60s, go scuba diving with sharks (again) and go to the Everest base camp.

The idea of dying old doesn't scare me. Living for ever would be miserable !

[Blaidd59]

Its perfectly normal for some people to be afraid of the unknown and i would say dying is an unknown element.

[Macman]

I've died and brought back to life on more than a few occasions.

I am epileptic, I read stories that young and fit people have died in their sleep having a seizure. Does it make me lose sleep? No... Take what life throws at you and make the best of it.

I give life my two fingers. I'll live it how I want, so now, I'm off to nuke a pizza. :]

[csgohan4]

I think Death should be greeted with open arms.... When you have achieved all you have, when you have seen what you have set out to see and when you feel you have had enough memories/experiances to cherish for a lifetime.

Only when you feel there is something else left to do, then you should fight him all the way, untill then as Melon nicely puts it, greet him like an old friend as if you do, it is likely you are ready for the inevitable. And most of all die with a smile on your face knowing you have done what you wanted in life

On the other hand if you have found religion, then that is a different ball game

[Mama Sumae]

Life holds you hostage through those who love you and you care for, other than that death doesn't seem so unappealing.

[Larkspeed]

I don't fear death as such

But I am 43 with a 4 year old daughter and sometimes it strikes me that it's is entirely possible that I will not be around to see her finish school, get married and have kids of her own.

Now there would be that very same possibility if I were 23 as well but it's just more of a possibility at my age.

But like I said I'm not afraid of not being here just bothered by what I would miss.