Ways To Overcome Your Fear of Death
Death is an unavoidable part of life, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. Fear of death, or thanatophobia, is something that afflicts millions of people worldwide. If you are experiencing it, it can be difficult to live with. Perhaps you are fearful of your own mortality, or maybe you are worried about the death of your loved ones. Either way, your fear can impact your own life in many negative ways. It could lead to intense feelings of anxiety, stress, or in some cases, depression.
But death comes to everyone, and you can’t let your fears overwhelm your life. Otherwise, you will spend your years fretting and panicking without making the most of your time in the present. Learning to accept death and see it as a positive part of life is the best way to overcome your phobia. You will not live in fear of mortality but rather come to live with it as a natural conclusion to a life well-lived. Just as grief seems to be a topic most people would rather avoid, so is death. And, I find it curious that these two things, so deeply intertwined, are practically taboo topics. And yet, they’re the most normal and natural part of the human experience. It is in talking about these things when we start to normalize them. And, it’s in talking about these things, where we start to look at our lives with renewed perspective and start to live into our desires in the present. So, to help you on the path to acceptance, here are four ways to overcome your fear of death.
Understand Your Fear
Are you constantly worrying that your elderly relatives don’t have much time left? Do funerals fill you with a sense of dread? What is it about the idea of death that makes you feel afraid? Articulating your fears by writing them down in a journal or speaking them aloud will help them seem less scary. Letting your emotions and feelings out will prevent them from bottling up inside, and you may feel immediate relief. Identify the times when you feel the most afraid and see a common link between them. Perhaps there are certain triggers sparking anxiety that you can eradicate from your life.
Let Go of What You Can’t Control
A time may come when scientists devise a way of achieving immortality. However, for the time being, the death of the physical body is unavoidable. Yes, you can be careful and live a healthy life, but you will sooner or later have to accept that your life is limited. Worrying doesn’t change the simple fact of mortality; it just impedes your enjoyment of your life. Although you can’t harness death, you can take charge of your life and make the most of it. Try to challenge your negative thought cycle and occupy your mind with more wholesome hobbies and activities.
Consider That Consciousness Continues
The thought that there is life after death, in terms of our consciousness or spirit, definitely causes some eyebrows to go up and probably even some eye rolls. However, where science and death meet, there is a whole lot of grey. There is much that is still unknown and to be discovered. It’s not simply black and white, as I felt in my heart as a young child. Truth be told, after the passing of my father as a child, I saw him in the casket and be put in the ground. To me, he was dead, no longer in my life. I had zero context or information to believe differently as a child where death was neither talked about nor were feelings given the space for expression. So, who else to blame but God, as a child, right? A loving God doesn’t take daddy’s away from their innocent children.
The experiences and conversations (or lack thereof) about death in childhood are probably among the most significant, if not the most significant, indicators of how we view death as adults. Unless we challenge the beliefs we are either born into or the stories our minds concoct to believe as truth as a way to protect ourselves, we may keep ourselves from developing a spiritual connection that is greater than ourselves.
I believe we are all one and, we are all connected. We all are made up of energy and there is not one vibrational energy that doesn’t impact or interact with another. On a soul level, this energy, or spirit, where does that go when our physical bodies die? That is the study of after-life science. I find it fascinating. At the same time, I fully embrace the mystery of it all.
I guess one never knows until our time comes, right? But, what a comfort this belief can be to those left behind? To feel a sense of presence that is a comfort of being supported and guided. Reiki has definitely opened me up to this deeper connection we all have to one another, both on the physical plane and beyond. Reiki is neither a religion nor a belief system. Reiki is simply pure love and light energy channeled in a very specific way. As a reiki practitioner, I am the conduit of this energy. I have felt the reiki energy get stronger the longer I’ve been practicing as well. It’s been quite amazing! But, I can’t ignore the fact that the gift of Reiki is from a higher power. And, I can’t ignore the fact that I have had personal experiences of energy work and in meditations that have been transformative. And, I can’t ignore that things come up in reiki sessions that I should not know.
As a once upon a time skeptic, I am convinced there is more to life than just our physical bodies. And, there is something greater to look forward to.
Live Life To The Fullest
Rather than spending your time preoccupied with mortality, aim to fill your days with as much joy as possible. Spend time with friends and family, travel the world (when we can again without concern), get outside in nature, and make wonderful memories that will stay with you for the rest of your life. The last thing you want when you’re on your deathbed is to regret not having enjoyed yourself. Make an effort to eat well and move your body to extend your life as long as possible, and tend to your emotional body, too. If we don’t address our emotional state, our bodies are left to do the job of being the processing plant of our emotions. This is where we see so much unexplained illness and physical manifestations. If you have unexplained symptoms, there’s a very good chance your energy body is suffering. This is where Reiki or Grief Recovery work would be helpful; to help clear away the emotional weight being carried within the body. When we feel lighter inside, we feel lighter (not to mention look lighter – more pep in our step) on the outside, too.
Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. – Norman Cousins
I have been reminded to live for today through podcast interviews with a hospice doctor and researcher of end-of-live experiences and a woman who’s lived 17 years with metastatic breast cancer. I was reminded again during an end-of-life doula training I completed recently. Through the work and study I have been doing lately, I’ve learned that, perhaps, one way to become less afraid of death is to be open to learning from others facing it. A year ago, I would have said that I wished to have a quick death and not know what hit me. However, after the training and conversations that I’ve had since, I found myself hoping for a heads up. Not necessarily a terminal illness, rather, the opportunity to curate the experience I have going out (i.e. end-of-life planning). And, the question that occurred to me as I’ve been writing this is this: What if we lived every day as if we’ve just been told we had a terminal illness? I have heard people use the “you have 3 months to live” as a “tool” for living. I suppose that works, too. Either way, what would you do if you knew the end was. near? What would your priorities be? What would you want to experience?
To living life to the fullest!
Great stuff madam. I am a Christian preacher and I was looking for information to prepare a lesion about “why do people, “even Christians have the fear of death?. Because it is common saying from the non Christians, “ëverybody wants to go to heaven, but no body wants die”. I collected some valuable information in your article.
I’m glad it was helpful! Thank you for sharing.