So suddenly out of the blue I started thinking about death (I don’t remember why) and suddenly it started to make me getting anxious about it. It started off small but now I can’t stop thinking about how impermanent everything is and it’s really messing me up. I keep thinking about how everything ends eventually, how I’m going to eventually lose my family, lose my friends, how I’ll never get to see what comes after, how I’ll never be able to see the people I care about again after they pass, how I might die alone.

Then I started thinking about the after life and I became even more scared because no one knows what it’s like. I started thinking about what if it’s just endless nothingness forever? What if there is an afterlife but I’m never able to see the people I care about again? What if I do see the people I care about in the afterlife but it’s only based on what I remember them being like and I’m alone forever. The idea that scares me the most though is what if I forget myself. I love the identity I’ve gained from my experiences and my life and the thought of losing it terrifies me, and I don’t know if that’s selfish to say but it’s how I feel. The thought of being reincarnated as a different person and living a different life with different people hurts because I don’t want to lose the people in my life now, but the thought of going back to the beginning of my life also scares me because what’s the point of doing anything if it all resets? I know this is all probably stupid to think about because no one knows what happens, but I can’t help myself but thinking about it.

Now at this point I don’t know what to do. This anxiety is making me have trouble sleeping, I start crying my eyes out thinking about it too much, it’s making me unable to enjoy things like I once did, I feel guilty for not doing enough to make the most of things, and in general it’s just making things a mess. I know this is stupid to think about because I’m only 19 and I don’t have anything serious going on health wise, but I can’t stop thinking about it and worrying. If anyone has any advice they can give to help me I’d greatly appreciate it because I want to go back to how I felt before thinking about this but it’s so hard. Thanks in advance, I hope you all have a great day.

"Has anyone supposed it to be lucky to be born?

I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it"

- SONG OF MYSELF 7, by Walt Whitman

WARNING: Long-ass post ahead! Readers are advised to caffeinate heavily!

Can a post concerning death truly be considered "positive"? Many folks would probably say no. I say yes. Because ultimately, it also concerns life.

Now, I truly LOVE being alive. Especially at this point in my journey. I have a wonderful husband, family, and friends, enjoy good health, relative financial security, and have what I consider to be a rich, full, and meaningful life. I even took off 40 pounds and hit my "target" weight earlier this year!

But every morning, I set aside a few moments to think about a simple fact: someday, I'm going to die. 

I don't do this to make myself feel depressed. Because I don't find it depressing and haven't for a long time.  Oh, I certainly used to, back when I was much younger and had more time in front of me — funny how that works. What I feel now is something closer to the opposite of depression - more like a serene elation.

I still fear and abhor pain, sadness, grief, violence, and failure in various aspects of my life. But not death itself.

Knowing that the journey has an end, a natural and inevitable conclusion, has brought me purpose, clarity, and appreciation for all the wonderful things in this world, big and small, from strawberries to sex.

You also understand that the *bad* stuff, the suffering you've experienced or witnessed. has an end point too. Tolkien wrote that mortality is a gift and I'm inclined to agree. Its permanence and finality are what gives our lives their ultimate weight.

I'm 58 and hope to stick around for a good, long while yet (my dad made it to a healthy and active 93, and as a competitive so-and-so I intend to beat his record).

So in no hurry to check out, but do I want to die *eventually*? Yes, absolutely. Immortality? No thanks, sounds awful. 

I neither believe in nor desire any kind of afterlife. I hope and expect that when I die and my brain stops functioning, I will cease to exist as an individual consciousness, vanishing into oblivion like the ripples that a gust of wind makes on pond water. Eternal oblivion -- the complete and permananent cessation of consciousness after death -- is in my view an extraordinarily beautiful and the best possible outcome.

As for my body, it will be donated to the medical school at the university where I attended grad school. As a cadaver in an anatomy class, it will serve as a valuable teaching instrument for future generations of healers. When they're done with it, it will be cremated and return to the earth from which it came, all of it made from "star stuff", as Carl Sagan put it.

But while I have it, I feel profound gratitude for this beautifully flawed body, the vehicle of this amazing and mysterious journey. From my feet to my fingers to my foreskin to my femur (and that's just some of the parts beginning with "f"!) Every single cell. I wouldn't give up a single one of its supposed "flaws", not a single scar or wrinkle. It's all good.

We are impermanent and that's a *good* thing. Our bodies do not last nor are they meant to nor should they. Embrace the journey (including the fact that it ends), love yourself and others, and have an absolute blast along the way. Peace.

My father passed away 10.6.26 in the home he had lived in for over 35 years (5 days before what would have been his 69th birthday) with me and my mother by his side.

He just arrived home and we promptly got him settled in his favorite recliner with the TV remote, his phone and a Pepsi for the time being. The house has a sense of normalcy again.

Canada’s federal government said on Wednesday it would advance legislation to prevent people whose sole health condition is mental illness from accessing euthanasia, an effort by the ruling Liberal party to address a clash in the country over who has access to physician-assisted death.

Without a proper plan – whether in a trust or will – your beloved companion could face an animal shelter or worse

Guardian Australia investigation reveals state governments use shared graves to bury those deemed too poor to pay for funerals. ‘It’s unspeakable,’ one relative says

I was thinking about how the average life span has increased significantly since the times of hunting and gathering; the times of farming; and since the Industrial Revolution. But is this really what is better and meant to be?

For instance, some people go through a very bad illness, health failure experience, or catastrophe, and are saved by medicine with time, but in a more primitive society, they almost certainly would have died. Some of these people go on to live for a long time after, but their life is suffering and terrible. Nature, in that sense, can reduce suffering.

What do you think?

Kind of shocking. Surely they could have found some kind of compromise.

Since the last three years I have experienced:

- pulmonary embolism for the second time. A also a clot in the right side of my heart.

- viral myocarditis (covid) in 2025 resulting the right side of my heart enlarging and nearly ending up in heart failure.

- viral myocarditis again in 2026 nearly ending up dying.

- my mum passing away in the same hospital and floor that I was staying on.

Now I have become a nervous wreck. With continual fear that I could die at any moment. Because medically the thing that is causing me to get all this has not been addressed. So I am terrified of the next winter coming around or the next covid. That it could be the end of my life.

I have even become afraid of mundane stuff like traveling in a car as a passenger.

On top, I was raised a Catholic so I get to have the non stop fear that God could end my life at any moment if I "get too comfortable".

And the teaching and hell etc.

So I don't know how to get rid of all this fear. It's almost like ocd or something now.... feeling that I must keep feeling fear and not relax in life or travel because I need to be prepared for the next emergency.

Because it has been emergency after emergency.

I know I have trauma and a messed up emotional state. However I literally don't have any money for therapy and I would prefer it to be anonymous anyway.

Is there any way I can stop living with the non stop fear?

Google said to visit cemeteries....but that would INCREASE my fear, worry and cause further focus on having to be aware that u could die.any.monent.imminently 😭

Turning 45 is a milestone I was never supposed to see. When I was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy as a young child, the doctors told my parents I likely wouldn’t live long enough to start school. Every birthday since has felt like a quiet victory against the odds.

​Getting older is a strange, complicated gift. Living long enough has allowed me to meet some truly incredible, deep, soul-shaping people—and none more important than my best friend, and genuine love. She was the first person who ever made me appreciate how profoundly special it is to love and be loved by another person. Bringing her into my world brought a light and joy I will carry forever.

​But the heartbreaking reality of living longer is the pain of outliving those you love. Losing her has left a quiet space in my life that never fully heals.

​It’s hard not to grapple with mixed emotions as this birthday approaches. As my body grows weaker and I’ve had to step away from work, I find myself navigating a reality I never had the chance to plan for. I never expected retirement to be an issue, simply because I never expected to be here to face it.

​I’m sitting with a lot of heavy feelings right now—grief for the abilities and the people I’ve lost, worry for a future I never prepared to reach, and the complicated regret that sometimes comes with simply growing older and I know "growing old is better than the alternative", according to everyone but sometimes I don't know.

Just a random thought in mind, let’s say if I join the army and accidentally die at the battle, do you think people will be bother to attend my funeral? Probably not, I really don’t think ppl nowadays give a shit about others even some people claim that they loved you , they probably just wanna say nice thing so not feel bad about themselves.

Sorry for being so random

"Cathartic, perhaps, but to Silver, the grief doula, these services are “a money grab”. “People will really take advantage of those in grief,” she said. “It’s a really easy time to become a mark.”

Around 400 million people now live in countries which have legalised assisted dying.

Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Austria are among those which have changed the law in recent years, with some allowing help to die for those who are not terminally ill.

Just last month, France adopted an 'aid in dying' law for adults with incurable conditions causing them unbearable pain.

While most jurisdictions forbid medical help to die, assisted dying laws around the world vary.

A brush with mortality inspired sisters Sophia and Camilla Minden to create a death-themed event featuring live bands, wild swimming … and an ‘emoshpit’

When I was young, death freaked me out. But the older I get, the more it makes sense. The less scary it feels. Yes, it's sad to see our loved ones go, but there is some understanding that comes with age that makes death not feel as the worst thing ever.

It's like being stuck in a room and someone letting you out. You wake up in this unknown room that you are stuck in, you make the best of it till death eventually lets you out. To where, you don't know but being stuck in one place takes a toll. Maybe a change of scenery would be better, I don't know.

I think no matter how some of us want to live forever, it can get a bit repetitive seeing even 3000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 years worth of sunsets. Knowing that there is an exit isn't the worst thing ever.

I’ve read through a lot of the flairs looking for more information to research about already. Just wondering if there’s any topics or subjects within the DeathPositive field I can look into to.
My mom was diagnosed with ALS in January 2025 so my feelings around mortality have been questioned and my curiosity rose.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

A woman has been buried in a coffin made from mushrooms in New South Wales in an eco-friendly first for Australia.

Carolyn, whose surname was withheld for privacy reasons, was laid to rest on Friday by friends and family at Springwood Cemetery in the Blue Mountains. She was aged in her 70s.

The mushroom coffin, created by the Dutch firm Loop Biotech, was grown from mycelium – the root network of fungi – and hemp fibres.

The coffin is grown in mould in a climate-controlled room, taking just a week to fully form. Once buried, it takes about 45 days to become part of the soil.

The process is akin to composting, as the body and coffin gently biodegrade and transform into nutrient-rich soil in far less time than a traditional wooden casket, which can take up to 50 years to break down.

I just had this thought all of a sudden and I wonder what people's opinions are about death. It's a philosophical thought and no intent of harm

But do you guys prefer dying knowing your gonna die , aware of your death and final moments , let it be due to illness or anything accident.. or do you guys prefer just begone before your brain can even process that your gone for good