Coming to terms with your own mortality

xzanti · 13-10-2011 09:21AM #1

When I was about 11 or 12, I spent about a year being completely obsessed with the fact that I would some day perish.. that I would no longer be of this world.. I would spend hours pondering, bemused by the fact that I was not a permanent fixture on this mortal coil and what would happen to me after this I left this world.

Weird considering, at that stage I was also only beginning to question what the Hell I was doing here in the first place.. a perplexing time indeed.

Just wondering, did other people go through a phase like this? Or was I just bat shít crazy?

hondasam · 13-10-2011 09:24AM

you were just bat shít crazy op.

Das Kitty · 13-10-2011 09:24AM

I was a morbid child. I think when I was 6 I stared thinking about death a lot.

I think it was good to get it all out of my system early though.

force eleven · 13-10-2011 09:26AM

Never heard anyone who died, complain about it...

Snakeblood · 13-10-2011 09:27AM

xzanti wrote: »

When I was about 11 or 12, I spent about a year being completely obsessed with the fact that I would some day perish.. that I would no longer be of this world.. I would spend hours pondering, bemused by the fact that I was not a permanent fixture on this mortal coil and what would happen to me after this I left this world.

Weird considering, at that stage I was also only beginning to question what the Hell I was doing here in the first place.. a perplexing time indeed.

Just wondering, did other people go through a phase like this? Or was I just bat shít crazy?

I had a thing where I was convinced that if I shut my eyes, nothing existed. Then my brother hit me in the back of the head, and it sorted that right out.

Lord Trollington · 13-10-2011 09:27AM

I dont think at any age you ever really come to terms with it. You just stop thinking about it or get derailed by some other important thing currently happening in your life.

I think about it occasionally, but dont dwell on it too much.

Joey the lips · 13-10-2011 09:27AM

honestly....at 11 or 12 my thoughts were about ridin now i am in my late 30's my thoughts are about ridin.....

Funny how nothing changes.

xzanti · 13-10-2011 09:28AM

Das Kitty wrote: »

I was a morbid child. I think when I was 6 I stared thinking about death a lot.

I think it was good to get it all out of my system early though.

Yeah, funnily enough I pretty much made peace with the fact after that phase..

Temptamperu · 13-10-2011 09:28AM

Once when i took magic mushrooms I thought about death and how it was so final and being an atheist i realised I only had one life and had to live it to best of my ability. Sobering thought.

Napper Hawkins · 13-10-2011 09:28AM

A lot of people are incapable of coming to terms with it.

Why do you think religion exists?

Lord Trollington · 13-10-2011 09:29AM

Joey the lips wrote: »

honestly....at 11 or 12 my thoughts were about ridin now i am in my late 30's my thoughts are about ridin.....

Funny how nothing changes.

Funny it was the size of a maggot again... and still is.

nothing changes

seamus · 13-10-2011 09:29AM

I went through a phase of it, don't remember when, probably around the same age. Only lasted a couple of months though. What I remember is that I couldn't get my head around the idea that I would no longer exist, that I would no longer have any thoughts. It scared me, but more because I couldn't really grasp the concept.

I went through a second phase during the last couple of years where I could totally grasp and understand the concept, and that's exactly why it scared the crap out of me. Because I don't want to leave this existence. Ever. It coincided with the realisation that there is zero evidence to suggest an afterlife. Up till then I held out optimistic hope, but as I considered it more rationally, the likeliness of such a thing seemed less and less, so the safety cushion was pulled out from me.

I've come to terms with it now, but only insofar as the knowledge that I will one day cease to exist no longer scares me. It just disappoints me.

foxyboxer · 13-10-2011 09:30AM

This is the kind of thing you ponder when having a bath.

That death is like the best, most refreshing, deepest deep sleep you've ever had. The kind where you don't dream at all and that it's permanent.

When I think of the concept of heaven I find myself thinking. What would I do for eternity? Would I need to get a job in heaven to fill the time? Would I be on boards.ie when in heaven?

Deep stuff for a thursday morning.

Princess Peach · 13-10-2011 09:31AM

I have many 1 up mushrooms so I will never truly die.

foxyboxer · 13-10-2011 09:32AM

Snakeblood wrote: »

I had a thing where I was convinced that if I shut my eyes, nothing existed. Then my brother hit me in the back of the head, and it sorted that right out.

You could argue that it doesn't. Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle.

Lord Trollington · 13-10-2011 09:34AM

foxyboxer wrote: »

This is the kind of thing you ponder when having a bath.

That death is like the best, most refreshing, deepest deep sleep you've ever had. The kind where you don't dream at all and that it's permanent.

Brilliant. Can't wait for that.

L'prof · 13-10-2011 09:36AM

Everytime I get a hangover!!!

thee glitz · 13-10-2011 09:37AM

seamus wrote: »

I've come to terms with it now, but only insofar as the knowledge that I will one day cease to exist no longer scares me. It just disappoints me.

Wouldn't immortality be so much worse?

http://www.cracked.com/article_18708_5-reasons-immortality-would-be-worse-than-death.html

yuppies · 13-10-2011 09:39AM

Yes op, between the ages of 13 and 16 not a single day passed where my day wasn't ruined by the obsessive thoght that I was "going to die some day". It hit my like a tonne of bricks one day after a class in shool, completely shattered my mind. Even at teenage discos I used to look around at everyone my age having a great time and I'd be annoyed thinking "why can't i shake off this thought and enjoy my life" and thinking "they're all going to die some day". I used to feel like I physically had the thought on my brain, like it was a weight on my mind. To be honest, the only way for me to deal with it was to get so depressed I didn't repel the prospect of death. 5 years on and i'm still depressed..

seamus · 13-10-2011 09:40AM

thee glitz wrote: »

Wouldn't immortality be so much worse?

I'd prefer to have the option to leave when I feel like it.

There isn't enough time in a lifespan of 60-80 years to achieve everything.

Lord Trollington · 13-10-2011 09:44AM

yuppies wrote: »

Yes op, between the ages of 13 and 16 not a single day passed where my day wasn't ruined by the obsessive thoght that I was "going to die some day". It hit my like a tonne of bricks one day after a class in shool, completely shattered my mind. Even at teenage discos I used to look around at everyone my age having a great time and I'd be annoyed thinking "why can't i shake off this thought and enjoy my life" and thinking "they're all going to die some day". I used to feel like I physically had the thought on my brain, like it was a weight on my mind. To be honest, the only way for me to deal with it was to get so depressed I didn't repel the prospect of death. 5 years on and i'm still depressed..

Around that age too I use to think that from this moment in 100 years time a completely new set of 6-7billion people will inhabit the earth.

Pretty mad when you think about it.

Abi · 13-10-2011 09:51AM

xzanti wrote: »

When I was about 11 or 12, I spent about a year being completely obsessed with the fact that I would some day perish.. that I would no longer be of this world.. I would spend hours pondering, bemused by the fact that I was not a permanent fixture on this mortal coil and what would happen to me after this I left this world.

Weird considering, at that stage I was also only beginning to question what the Hell I was doing here in the first place.. a perplexing time indeed.

Just wondering, did other people go through a phase like this? Or was I just bat shít crazy?

Nope, I did as well. Bout the same age too. It was at the same time that I started going to mass because I desperately wanted to believe there was something after death, and that I'd see all my family again one day. For about a year I was doing this, I dunno what happened after that. It's at that age you're obsessively thinking about stuff I suppose. The boy a few doors up was a nice distraction at the time :pac:

What do I think now? worm food. No point worrying about the inevitable though.

karma_ · 13-10-2011 10:30AM

Watch this OP, it's interesting.

Latchy · 13-10-2011 10:33AM

xzanti wrote: »

When I was about 11 or 12, I spent about a year being completely obsessed with the fact that I would some day perish.. that I would no longer be of this world.. I would spend hours pondering, bemused by the fact that I was not a permanent fixture on this mortal coil and what would happen to me after this I left this world.

Weird considering, at that stage I was also only beginning to question what the Hell I was doing here in the first place.. a perplexing time indeed.

Just wondering, did other people go through a phase like this? Or was I just bat shít crazy?

Nothing bat **** crazy about it at all and it's quite normal to question our own mortality and what ( if anything ) is after our time on this earth .I spent a lot of time at that age asking the same questions ie, who am I , what's my purpose in this life ,why am I /we here ? etc .I think also as people around us die, like a family member or friends , neighbours and acquaintances ( such as one of mine who died last monday ) we tend to reflect more on stuff such as our relationship to others ,can we /could we /should we be more spiritual or religious (if not already ) Incidentally , am on holiday soon and wont be able to attend my friends funeral next week so I get to avoid the sad occassion .

SEPT 23 1989 · 13-10-2011 10:37AM

Having children makes you think about mortality

Dyr · 13-10-2011 10:43AM

When I was a kid I figured out that me ma was a good bit older than me and would die at some point. twas upsetting alright

Wattle · 13-10-2011 10:50AM

I'm fine with my mortality. Sure I need a good long rest.

epgc3fyqirnbsx · 13-10-2011 11:00AM

I remember the exact moment I started thinking about it, and it was also the moment that I realised I was an atheist. I was just wataching a documentary on the universe and the infinty of it al just hit me like a tonne of bricks, the infinity of death and the lack of any reason whatsoever to believe in an afterlife.
I was about 13 and every night I went to sleep I would listen to music, just listening to the lyrics to stop my brain from wandering to the inevitable in which case I wouldn't sleep that night.

Fun times!
Now I just numb myself with alocohol

Conor Bourke · 13-10-2011 11:14AM

I'm not one bit afraid of death (wouldn't want to be- I'm a hospice nurse :pac:) but while I realise that life is short and I should try to experience as much as I can, I still can't accept that I could be dead tomorrow.

I was in a serious car accident a few years ago, but walked out without a scratch. I had been feeling down for a few months prior to it and once or twice I even wondered about suicide, but thankfully I knew things weren't that bad. After that accident, I remember looking at my car on it's roof, in a field and thinking to myself "Hey- that easy way out you were looking for a few months ago? Well you almost had it there!" I was thrilled to have survived, but still never thought of it in the context that I seriously could have died.

In the past 7 years, I've lost 6 young friends (ie between 20 and 28 years old), including my younger brother. I've watched babies being born, held people's hands as they took their last breath. Death to me is a part of life. I know the pain of grief and loss, but to quote The Princess Bride "Life is pain". I live my life, knowing that I could be gone tomorrow but not dwelling on it. It will happen, one day or another and there's nothing I can do about that. All I can do is try and live the life I have as well as I can.

Conor Bourke · 13-10-2011 11:15AM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Having children makes you think about mortality

Us childless folk don't ever think of our mortality then?

yermandan · 13-10-2011 11:21AM

OP Im 30 and am just dealing with it now.

Coming to terms with your own mortality

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