It’s the opposite for me. As a Christian I feared death because I was always afraid I didn’t do enough to please god and was afraid of hell. Now that I’m an atheist I don’t fear death because I know that it will be the same as before I was born. I will no longer exist in a mindful form so I’m not afraid of something I won’t be conscious of. It will suck for the people who I leave behind and I hope it’s not painful but other than that I’m not afraid of it.

I have been fighting lung cancer for 5 years now. I only fear suffering.

I think your fear makes sense because you're imagining it with a conscious mind. Your terror is based on a feeling that you won't actually be unconscious when you're dead.

It's hard to imagine.

If you've ever been sedated for a surgical procedure or have awakened from sleep, recalling nothing, death is the same, but permanent. It's only because you reawakened that you can have the experience of fear.

Matt Dillahunty has mentioned many times how death is the same as pre-birth. No consciousness.

Sorry I can't help you. Personally, I find the knowledge that death is
inevitable and there is no "afterlife", extremely comforting.
I think a lot of the reason for that is I am simply freakin' exhausted.
I truly hope you can find a way to overcome this, so you don't waste what
time you do have worrying about that which you cannot control.
The only suggestion I have is therapy.

I do not fear death any longer once I realized that this is not the end of my journey, just my journey here, at this time....and I say this in the most un-religious way. Our planet is but a rock on the beach of a vast cosmos and we are one of billions of people on this one tiny tiny planet.
It helps that most of my 'bucket list' so to speak have been done and the some, so spend less time worrying and more time doing stuff!! I say these things with love and compassion...

Spring! Just watch all the plants that died last fall awaken & live again. Note the energy, strength, tenacious determination of the plant breaking through concrete & blacktop. That essence we share with all living things does not end/disappear when our body shell quits. I don't know how it will be after death but I'm positive my essence (not consciousness) will continue. My body/shell will nurture a tree after burial in a pod. (Google it.) Be easy in your mind and remember today is much more important than yesterday or tomorrow. Live it.

I actually have several thoughts on the subject, but I don't know helpful you may find them.

• Death is just like the time before birth; there's no consciousness of it.

• I would rather pass into oblivion than spend an eternity praising an egotistical megalomaniac.

• I would not be happy in the afterlife of fairy tales, knowing that people I love are suffering for all eternity.

-Death is natural and inevitable, don't let it keep you from living your life to the fullest before it can no longer be avoided.

-If all else fails, you may want to try counselling.

Why would ceasing to exist terrify you? That's what I don't get. Hanging around getting an increasing number of aches and pains, watching everybody you care about drop of the perch, now that is terrifying. Once I'm dead I don't even care if everybody forgets I ever existed, prefer them not to do that while I'm still alive. As long as the getting there is quick and clean I haven't got a problem with the concept, I've achieved things, lived well and stopped to smell the flowers, like a chance to do more but if it goes the other way c'est la guerre.

Time, age, and some seemingly worthwhile accomplishments.. You sound like one of my daughters, I get it. But wait till life’s worked you over a bit more. I’m no longer afraid of death, at times, I even feel ready. But no hurry.

I do not fear death.
I use to, but not anymore.
"If you wish to understand the Universe, think of energy, frequency and vibration"
-Nikola Tesla
We all vibrate, have frequency and are energy.
"Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another."
-Law of thermodynamics by Clausius and Thomson (Kelvin)

Nope. Maybe I will on my last day, but it just doesn't have meaning to me today. The idea of getting another shot at it (or this being my hundredth shot at it) seems irrelevant since there seems no bridge between any of them.

I don't fear being dead because, well, I'd be dead and there's nothing. I fear dying, more. Like, the process of dying. It's not really a fear as much as it can potentially be very uncomfortable. I JUST had this conversation with someone yesterday. She fears not being "here" anymore. It seems to me like such a waste of time to have that fear. Maybe I just didn't or don't understand it. We're going to die at some point, then we're gone. It seems such an odd thing to actually fear being gone....?

You are wasting your LIFE & precious time worrying about something you cannot control. See someone!
P.S. I have died 2x, and it is no biggie at all.........painfree, worry free, no memories just peaceful & quiet. Returning was hard!

Fear all you want, it won't change anything

I'm afraid even of losing small things. How much more must I fear losing EVERYTHING?
Yes, it troubles me.

I don't fancy the act of dying, and I feel a little sad when I consider that one day I'll have to quit. But I can separate my mind from the fact there's an end to the story and just enjoy turning the pages and seeing what happens.

There's a saying isn't there — cross that bridge when you come to it.

It's the opposite for me - I don't fear death because I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't want to die because I want to know how it all ends and what happens on the way there. But I'm not afraid of it. I just think of it as going to sleep and, hopefully, that's how it goes down. The only thing I would be afraid of is having a painful, torturous death.

It does not seem possible or desirable for an individual person to live forever. I think that our identity as a separate entity is only an illusion. The only thing supporting that illusion is memory, and memories fade eventually. There is nothing about our bodies worthy of immortality—our bodies are just robots IMO. Whenever you experience self-awareness, free will, love, creativity, appreciation, or gratitude, it is a higher self that is having that experience. Think deeply about this and you might see that it’s more than woo.

I lean toward the concept of a universal consciousness in which we all share. A sense of time arises from conscious awareness. Universal consciousness is immortal by default, so as extensions of that consciousness we are immortal also, just not as separate individuals. We are not, and never were our bodies. We are consciousness itself.

Cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman has developed what he calls “Conscious Realism”, which offers ideas about the nature of reality and the role of consciousness.

Consider reading The Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads.

There is nothing to fear.

A little Buddhist philosophy

Kisa Gautami was a young woman from a wealthy family who was happily married to an important merchant. When her only son was one-year-old, he fell ill and died suddenly. Kisa Gautami was struck with grief, she could not bare the death of her only child. Weeping and groaning, she took her dead baby in her arms and went from house to house begging all the people in the town for news of a way to bring her son back to life.

Of course, nobody could help her but Kisa Gautami would not give up. Finally she came across a Buddhist who advised her to go and see the Buddha himself.

When she carried the dead child to the Buddha and told Him her sad story, He listened with patience and compassion, and then said to her, "Kisa Gautami, there is only one way to solve your problem. Go and find me four or five mustard seeds from any family in which there has never been a death."

Kisa Gautami was filled with hope, and set off straight away to find such a household. But very soon she discovered that every family she visited had experienced the death of one person or another. At last, she understood what the Buddha had wanted her to find out for herself — that suffering is a part of life, and death comes to us all. Once Kisa Guatami accepted the fact that death is inevitable, she could stop her grieving. She took the child's body away and later returned to the Buddha to become one of His followers.

Interesting outlook? Death comes to all of us, we all have the same path. Two weeks ago I celebrated my "rebirth". No, not born again...but brought back to life. I had a sudden cardiac arrest last year and luckily for me my co-workers knew mouth to mouth, CPR and how to use an AED. When it happened there was no tunnel, no white light. There was nothing, but it's hard to explain but it was a peaceful nothing. Not scary. Death comes to all of us, it's indiscriminate. Don't seek it, but don't fear it, just acknowledge that someday it will happen.

No fear of death. I didn’t seem to mind the billions of years I didn’t exist before I did. I don’t see how I will mind after. I do fear dying and hope it will be quick and relatively painless.

Quite the opposite. I take comfort in knowing that one day I will cease to be and my energy will be recycled back into the life cycle.

More about the how.

Life is more painful than death.

"For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow
Forget about your sin
Give the audience a grin
Enjoy it, it's your last chance anyhow"
-Eric Idle

Just like @Dougl35534 I survived a cardiac arrest recently. Take it from us two and countless others, dieing isn't something to fear. When it happens you know nothing about it, and any other concerns, well like it or not they're not our concerns any more. It's easy, no bright lights or angels, no suffering, it's just a switch being flicked. There's plenty more relevant stuff to worry about while were still here!