I went through some of those phases that bettyboo discussed. I spent many nights crying in my bed at thought of my parents dying. After that phase, I wasted several years terrified of my own death. Death anytime, not just while I am young.
I would worry about my demise several times a day, every day, for years. Say from about 18 to 30 years of age. Some days were much better than others. I like to call these my "Dark Ages." Even though I had this mild depression, I had a lot of ambition and motivation to accomplish my goals. I am still ambitious now, at age 34, without the extreme fear of death. Even though the thought of dying still passes my mind occasionally, it does not bring me down and I dismiss the thoughts very quickly. Okay.... maybe the underlying fear is just as present as it always was, I don't know, but I feel much more hapiness in my life. I know in my heart that this vast increase of hapiness is either from repressing the fear of death, or actually decreasing this fear.
The way I changed is this..... I reached a point in my life (30 years old) where I was totally- fed up with the constant nagging of this worry/fear. I started researching personal development at this time, and worked on changing my thoughts. As mentioned already, focusing on something else really helps. More importantly, you have to totally be aware of your thoughts. When the thought of dying crossed my mind, I immediately cut that thought off at the n*ts and forced other thoughts in my mind. It took some practice, and sometimes thinking about death and another thought at the same time, but it eventually worked. I noticed a difference in a week, with vast improvements in 3 to 4 months. You can't continue life like that, and you can't just sit there and entertain thoughts, ideas and contemplate what ifs. YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
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