It’s a fact of life that we all die. No one is exempt from death. Our bodies wear out and perish just as all living things do making way for new life. Probably the biggest differences in the way we handle death are our beliefs on the subject. Some people take solace in their faith. Many faiths believe there is something after death whether it be heaven or reincarnation. This can ease a person’s mind when it comes to death.
The scariest part of death is not knowing what comes next or if anything comes next. If it’s the last sight you’ll ever see, sound you’ll ever hear, sensation you’ll ever feel, thought you’ll ever have, then that’s pretty scary. In order to live your life to the fullest you cannot be afraid of when or where you’ll die so sometimes even an atheist will be unafraid of death. They are not scared because they accept death as a part of life, the natural cycle of life which happens with every living thing.
Another area which may effect how a person sees death is their circumstances. The person who’s lived many years with a debilitating disease may welcome death as a long awaited relief. Similarly, the elderly tend to be less afraid of death because their bodies have been wearing out and they feel it coming a little at a time. The very young are almost never scared to die but not because they are brave or have accepted death but because they have not given it much thought. It is too far away for them it is not even on their radar screen yet. When a person begins to get older and lose function of some of the things they have always been able to do or begins to ache for no reason, it can bring up the subject of death and dying. The middle-age may fear death as they are forced to face their own mortality for the first time in their life. The exception to this is of course those who have survived what was thought to be a fatal illness or a near fatal accident. Since they have already faced death and survived they are less likely to be afraid of it a second time.
The most important thing to remember when facing your own mortality is that no matter what happens next your biggest concern shouldn’t be the afterlife but what you do with the time you’ve been given on this earth. When the time comes to face the grim reaper can you look back on your life with no regrets? It is very rare to be able to do this honestly.
