The inevitability of death for all life is a unifying factor that gives us an opportunity to empathize with each other. All arguments, etc are pointless when we’re all headed the same place in the end.

Because of this we have an opportunity to experience tremendous, overwhelming love with all other life that will die just as we will.

These are things I tell myself when I am in a bad mental place.

“There is no justice in the laws of nature, no term for fairness in the equations of motion. The universe is neither good nor evil, it simply does not care. The stars don’t care, or the sun or the sky. But they don’t have to. We care. There is light in the world and it is us.”

That nothing matters is, in its own way, entirely liberating. Nothing matters, so do what you care about. Try not to make other people’s experience worse, because you’re not an asshole, but otherwise be free.

Alternatively, think of it like this: there was a vast ocean of time that passed before you were born, and you don’t fear it. There will be a vast ocean of time after you are dead; don’t fear that either.

Your continuity will be interrupted. If you’ve ever had a bad fever and lost time, or been blackout drunk, or gotten hit on the head, or whatever, you’ve already experienced interruptions of continuity. And you’re only aware of them after you wake up and have to put it all back together. An interruption that you don’t come back from is also one that you never actually have to deal with.

For me at least,I find that I don’t fear death so much as I do resent it. “Ever since I first understood the weakness of my flesh” and all that. If I could trade my pathetic flesh prison for something eternal, I would. I am my mind, my thoughts, the continuity of my consciousness, not this decaying meat. I resent the idea that I will not get to experience all that I want to, but I don’t really fear it.

The how is easy. It’s the default.

It sounds like you’re struggling to find meaning in things and the good news is that’s 100% normal and something everybody has to figure out.

A lot of people will grab a religion, this is an easy way to have meaning assigned to you by 3rd parties, but I don’t personally recommend it.

In truth, the most beautiful thing about life is that it ends. Every moment you spend, whether it’s holding a loved one or having explosive diarrhea, is truly unique and precious.

I don’t believe in absolutes. There is no absolutely “correct” list of rights and wrongs. No magical force dictating what is meaningful or pointless.

My best advice is, anything that you enjoy doing is worth doing, so long as it doesn’t detract from someone else’s ability to do the same.

Doing nothing is a thing you can do too, but if you find yourself doing that for too long, or not enjoying anything, talk to your doctor. I don’t suffer from clinical depression, but I have family who does, and when I left Christianity for atheism at 18 I found myself experiencing depression in a new way.

I got prescribed a simple anti-depressant. It curbed the lows (and a little bit the highs) and made my days easier so I could work through some shit. A year later I was off them and felt like myself and knew what that meant.

For my dad, depression is an on-going thing. He’s learned what helps him and he has support when he needs it.

Take care of yourself, because even if you dont see that meaning now, sticking around is the only way we get a chance to find it.

What the hell else are you going to do?

When I was younger I thought about trying to study the science of aging to hopefully reverse it. But as soon as I got into the field I realized that a) barring some miracle breakthrough, the technology will not happen in my lifetime; and b) the circumstances of my birth would make it incredibly difficult and unlikely that I could ever aspire to work in such a field. Going to college at all was a stretch, and I eventually had to drop out to start working.

So anyway, that option off the table, there’s no solution. You will die. Your options are to either let anxiety destroy any enjoyment you might get out of life, or just keep living anyway.

I… I’m going to die?

You should really look into finding a therapist you can speak with about this. Or Buddhism. Or both.

Hey so this might not be the best place to get to the root of your fears. Have you considered talking to an expert?

• Admire the ephemerality of beauty itself and the limited lifespan of the universe

• Attempt to avoid suffering

• Yearn for death

• Go to therapy

• Cultivate a rich inner life which you appreciate moment-to-moment

Why do we eat when we know we’re going to turn it into shit? Food is delicious and we can take pleasure in preparation and sharing it with others.

Tough question to answer without sounding either too callous or too hippy-dippy.

If you’re not enjoying life why would you fear death? Why are you clinging so hard to life that it prevents you from living?

I used to be pretty depressed. Now I’m just kinda depressed sometimes.

The only thing that works for me is doing things. Sometimes I like them. Sometimes I don’t. I try to do more of the ones I like. I try not to judge things I am going to do before I’m doing them.

I have fully internalized that I will die and I personally believe that’s the end. Might be wrong, don’t care either way. All you can do is deal with now. I don’t want to leave my family behind but I will someday. It will be sad for them. It makes me a little sad to think about. But it’s unavoidable. I could die tomorrow. I could die at 90. You don’t get to know when in most cases. So I try not to worry about what I can’t control.

If you’re young, things smooth out as you age.

The one thing I have to stress is that you will not overcome anything on the internet. You have to do stuff to have anything to talk about, at bare minimum. A lot of people today confuse having an opinion for having a personality. I’d rather hang out with someone who wants to talk about their passions than someone who wants to trash a movie or a celebrity or some other thing they wouldn’t like even if it was made specifically for them.

Death is inevitable. Nothing I do will avoid it, I can’t escape it, and it will get me eventually. Thus, there’s no point worrying about it. If I live my life in fear of death, I’ll be just as dead as if I didn’t.

I’m not religious, so as far as I know this is the only existence I’ll ever have. I didn’t exist for billions of years, I exist now, and then I won’t exist for billions of years. In this brief window of consciousness, all I can do is live my life and try to experience it as much as possible. When I die, all I can hope for is that I was a good person who left the world in a better state than how I found it.

I won’t lie and say death doesn’t scare me. As I get closer, I’m sure it’ll scare me even more. I don’t want to die, so I’ll take whatever steps I can to avoid it. But to allow it to preoccupy my thoughts does me no good.

I don’t know your age, but I can assure you that you’ll get used to the inevitability of death as life goes on.
Sure, there’s nothing you can do about it and it’s terrifying now, but you’ll learn to just not care about it.
The universe is everything, everywhere and always, and you’ll just come back as another sentient being, because that’s how the system proves it’s working. It’s all an eternal cycle.
Everything will be fine.

Death is not something to be feared. Suffering makes sense to fear, sure, but death? I was watching a silly TV show last night and they quoted a Chinese proverb. “All of life is a walking dream. All of death is a coming home.”

Death is a great rest awaiting you at the end of life, my friend. It is not a punishment, and maybe even somewhat of a reward. You can relax and feel safe with one of life’s few certainties. We all die; it brings us together.

Have a good one.

I’ve never understood this question. Why would the fact I’m going to die stop me from moving or setting goals?

It would be a bit weird to say no to a party or catching up with some friends just because it would only be for a few hours. This is the same idea but at a bigger scale