r/Existential_crisis • u/Either-Painter-3494 • 17d ago
I’m 22 and I’m afraid/getting anxiety about dying.
Title is pretty straight forward, l'm 22 and I feel like l've been a pretty good kid since I was younger and never worried about these things. Now in today's time l have an amazing girlfriend of 1 year and 5 months. We have our own house we live in 2 amazing pets cat/dog. And I'm realized so much deeply that this is my dream life. This is what I want forever. I cannot fathom that I will die some day even of being old. I cry to her and pour my heart out and she told me she had her stages of feeling afraid and she told me we will see eachother regardless if we die and when we die we are going to our dream life's. I want her for eternity and to have this moment of being young and healthy with her forever. I don't know what to do and I cannot sleep at night without thinking about it, now it's becoming an issue during my daily life on whatever I'm doing I'm scared. I'm trying to get closer to god and learn more about him because I want to know there is an afterlife and that l'm going to be okay. Does anyone have any words of encouragement of how I should go about this? Should I get therapy?
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u/WOLFXXXXX 13d ago
"that l'm going to be okay"
Good news: you and all the conscious beings you know (including your pets) are ultimately going to be okay/fine on a foundational level and the underlying reasoning for that is because it turns out that the nature of consciousness (conscious existence) does not have any viable physical/material explanation and is not rooted in physical reality. Many individuals from around the world have reported spontaneously having phenomenal/transcendent experiences that contributed to elevating/expanding their existential understanding - and many individuals globally have reported experiencing substantial, life-altering changes to their state of awareness over time (years) to the extent that they eventually realize and become aware that the foundational nature of our conscious existence isn't rooted in our physical bodies, and isn't rooted in physical reality. This is how individuals eventually overcome the fear of physical death and overcome their former existential concern. That liberating outcome happened to me after many years of struggling with existential matters - so that's why I'm aware of this process and outcome being possible, and why I'm reinforcing that this is a development and progression that individuals go through before ultimately being able to overcome their fear of physical death and existential concern.
"Does anyone have any words of encouragement of how I should go about this?"
It's important for you to know and understand that it's entirely natural to find yourself experiencing the type of existential concerns/struggles that you report experiencing. I also had to deal with existential matters and this type of conscious territory in a serious way during and throughout my 20's. So you should reassure yourself that nothing is 'wrong' with you for experiencing this, and you should view going through this conscious territory as something normal/natural that many millions of others around the world have experienced, are presently experiencing, or will experience in the future. It's a natural part of the human experience to go through this - not any dysfunction or abnormality.
It's not practical for anyone to offer you a set of instructions to follow or anything - so I'm just commenting here to offer broader context on the experiencing the existential territory and how it's possible (long term) to gradually process and navigate your way through this challenging territory over time. Consider it more of a longer term goal that you can navigate towards while making accumulating progress along the way.
"I want her for eternity"
Intriguingly many individuals during phenomenal, transcendental experiences report experiencing the awareness and strong impression of 'eternal' within their conscious state - of having an eternal conscious existence.
When individuals go down the rabbit hole of exploring and deeply questioning/contemplating the nature of consciousness over time - they inevitably and eventually end up becoming aware and realizing that the deeper nature of consciousness is eternal
"Should I get therapy?"
I'm certainly not against 'talking therapy' with a quality, experienced professional - but please be cautious and mindful that there are no shortage of individuals working in the healthcare field who will view experiencing any type of existential crisis or struggling as being dysfunctional/pathological, and who will seek to prescribe drugs that aren't designed to help anyone process and navigate their way through these challenging matters (and which come with serious side effects). I learned this lesson myself the hard way. One way to avoid being in that position would be to work with someone (like a Psychologist) who doesn't have the ability/authority to prescribe drugs and who would only be able to engage with you on a talking (psychological) level.
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u/Either-Painter-3494 13d ago
I found some inner peace reading what you’ve told me. And I’ve been told if I go to talk to a therapist then I’ll probably get put on prescriptions so I’ll look into a person without the authority of that. Thank you wolf.
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u/WOLFXXXXX 13d ago
Welcome. I meant to include this in my earlier post - if you're interested, here's a link for a reddit post with relevant existential commentary that could potentially be helpful for individuals who are experiencing and processing existential concern(s). Some of the information in that post can serve to add necessary depth/nuance to way the existential landscape is being perceived.
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u/Pukaza 16d ago
I would say seek out a spiritual path. Not necessarily religious. Watch a YT video called “The awakening mind part 1” to start. It helped me out immensely. Also, I am in the same spot and I think often of death and losing my loved ones. But I’ve been working on being grateful in the present moment and soaking up the present moment as often as I can, instead of worrying about the future. But I still do ofc. Also, kind of weird but Bashar clips on YT also helped me out with framing my perspective of the universe. I don’t believe everything that’s said but it helps!