# How do I take my mind off my own mortality? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 26, 2005, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480 "2005-09-26T12:11:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/21 "2005-09-27T07:26:58Z")
Look it’s a blessing. You’re emerging from the adolescent “I’m immortal” delusion, which is what gives us our yearly quota of mangled dead teenagers in totally avoidable car accidents. I know, I know, teenagers know they’re going to die, but they don’t \*know \* it. The only way to know it is to endure some traumatic experiences or go through the inevitable series of 3 a.m. unpleasant realizations. You will die. It may be painful. It may be very soon. It may be very sudden. It won’t be terribly long. Life goes fast. It speeds up the older you get. And people die all the time for no reason at all. Your body will rot. You will lose everything you’ve ever had. You and everything you’ve done will most likely be totally forgotten not long after you’re dead. And will certainly be forgotten eventually. Same with your friends and family. It’s a good thing to feel. It should change how you look at yourself and the world. It tends to make people less stupid in all sorts of ways. But it’s no excuse for avoiding picking a college. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/22 "2005-09-27T09:32:34Z")
hehehehe at that last sentence, \*\* uglybeech\*\* 🙂 **csharpmajor** , if you’re really scared, go get help, like **Loopydude** said. There’s nothing embarrassing about being afraid of something. Or think practical, like I do these days. Everything dies, sooner or later. It’s not all that important. What \* is \* important is the \*way \* you die. Or, like Woody Allen said: “I am not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens”. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/23 "2005-09-27T10:35:38Z")
I’m not really scared. I’m mostly over it now. But it was a weird day. I’d still appreciate a 30-day trial though :\ ---
**Author:** ![chefjef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e480ec/32.png) [@chefjef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefjef)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/24 "2005-09-27T16:14:18Z")
Ok my friend and I were discussing this last night. He’s afraid of aging - but I pointed out that really, he’s afraid of death. He agreed. My point is that fearing aging makes no sense - if all he’s really afraid of is nearing the end of life - since we can die at any time - age 2, age 30, age 60, age 90. But I don’t know. I’m a hypocrit I guess because I am afraid of death myself - I just feel like I have not done enough that I want to do in life and I’m so worried I’ll die before I’m able to. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/25 "2005-09-27T16:30:15Z")
> [@csharpmajor](#): > > I was lying in bed last night when all of a sudden I realised I was going to die. > … > > … My university preferences are due in by Wednesday, and I would really prefer to do them without this shadow of dread. Any suggestions? You think you are going to die now! Wait until you go to college and wake up from a bad night of drinking! ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/26 "2005-09-27T16:31:44Z")
I have the same thinking as **csharpmajor** too, back when I was 3 or 4. I had a dreamt – a dream that everyone in the world died (at that time, I thought there was only about 100 people in the world) and I was looking over their graves. Ever since, sometimes I kept thinking about the issue. The only solution is don’t think about it. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/27 "2005-09-27T16:34:11Z")
You know, I have realised that most of you will probably die before me. It’s kinda mean, and kinda twisted, but also kinda comforting. I have finished doing my preferences. Everything I want to do has abysmally low cut-offs. It will probably be hard to obtain those minimum marks without getting a failing average, and therefore not being able to go on to university at all. It will probably be harder to get into community college than university. Yes, I am an art student; why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/28 "2005-09-27T16:54:43Z")
> [@csharpmajor](#): > > You know, I have realised that most of you will probably die before me. Chee. T’anks. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/29 "2005-09-27T17:09:26Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I eventually invented my own pretty good theory that reincarnation is a property of any type of infinite universe. Because we know we have a nonzero probability of existing (as our current selves) then both the theories of a Big Crunch end to the universe and the theory infinite universes mean that we will live again and again as some version as ourselves as endless universes get created and destroyed. Yep. And it’s all pretty amazing. We are star stuff, so we are in effect immortal. And how lucky our molecules have been to be part of what may be the only evolutionary process in the universe. And even luckier that we are the only organism (that we know of) that evolved the capacity to contemplate its own origins. Sad that you’re dying? Bah, I say! Happy to be alive! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/30 "2005-09-27T17:10:45Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Chee. T’anks. Well, you probably _should_ get that mole checked out. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/31 "2005-09-27T17:14:33Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Well, you probably _should_ get that mole checked out. The only Mole I have is down by the River Running, & I _ain’t_ getting rid of _him_, 'cause he’s part of a set, with the Water Rat. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/32 "2005-09-27T17:38:56Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > The only Mole I have is down by the River Running, & I _ain’t_ getting rid of _him_, 'cause he’s part of a set, with the Water Rat. Hmm, Whack-a-Water-Rat. Interesting. **# # # # # # #**, I don’t think you can ever really put a thought out of your mind. It’s like trying not to think of a green elephant. The best you can do is deal with it, and learn to live with it. The obsessive thoughts will eventually go away on their own, and one day you’ll wake up and think “Hey, it’s been three years since I thought about death.” ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/33 "2005-09-27T18:28:47Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Yep. And it’s all pretty amazing. We are star stuff, so we are in effect immortal. And how lucky our molecules have been to be part of what may be the only evolutionary process in the universe. And even luckier that we are the only organism (that we know of) that evolved the capacity to contemplate its own origins. Sad that you’re dying? Bah, I say! Happy to be alive! This is the point where I’m at now – just glad to have been a part of it all. I’m 60 and a smoker, so I’m really conscious of impending death, probably an uncomfortable death. I’m okay with it. I have no choice. Reading obituaries helps. I think “Hey, if they can do it, so can I.” (Die.) What really bugs me is realizing that my children are going to die someday. ---
**Author:** ![aequitas\_justice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b4bc9f/32.png) [@aequitas\_justice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aequitas_justice)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/34 "2005-09-27T20:13:37Z")
Read books. There is no better way to forget about your own problems and fears than by immersing yourself in other peoples. If you want an interesting viewpoint on your own existance, read _Illusions_ by Richard Bach. It always works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/35 "2005-09-27T20:15:42Z")
Another way to look at it is that you were “dead” for most of the billions of years that the universe has been around. I doubt you have unfond memories of it. This life is just a stumbling block before returning you to your rightful state. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/36 "2005-09-27T20:22:38Z")
Well you could consider these other imponderables: Do you realize that under their clothes, _everybody is naked!_ ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/37 "2005-09-27T20:31:04Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Well you could consider these other imponderables: > > Do you realize that under their clothes, _everybody is naked!_ _pictures **tdn** naked_ By gosh, you’re right! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/38 "2005-09-27T20:46:44Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > _pictures **tdn** naked_ > > By gosh, you’re right! _Shriek!_ _Covering nipples_ ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/39 "2005-09-27T20:51:45Z")
cut off your head shut up your face here is the time now is the place cut off your head why should you wait don’t think about it it’s much too late well, it’s been a lot of work but now I’m right back where I used to be surrounded by the stupid things I had before I started out the Dixie cups, the Tonka trucks, the Action Jackson figurines the motorcycle wouldn’t go - not even when you pulled the string the comic books I didn’t read - too stupid for me even then the light bulb oven wouldn’t cook the pasty stuff in little tins the woolen shorts, the clamp on skates the duck, the duck, the duck, the goose the busted nose, the broken eardrum, falling off the skateboard hands the plasticine, the orange aspirin, play-doh crud in little cans keep coming back in different combinations cut off your head don’t hesitate do it today it’s great throw out your brains they’re a disease cut off your head think with your knees you’ve tattooed all your body parts and pierced your lip and pierced your nose and bolted this and branded that and done the drugs and done your friends and done the friends of other friends so why not try some amputation you can feel so stupid when it’s over the ratna, padma, karma, vajra, Buddha are all in all o.k. there is a pain, there is a cause, there is a goal, there is a way - YOU KNOW THE WAY! cut off your head do it yourself don’t ask a friend that’s gross use a big knife that cuts both ways open your heart cut off your head Apologies to [Jim Infantino](http://www.bigego.com/egog/article.php?story=20030116105914607) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480/40 "2005-09-27T21:12:43Z")
> [@uglybeech](#): > > \ > You will die. It may be painful. It may be very soon. It may be very sudden. It won’t be terribly long. Life goes fast. It speeds up the older you get. And people die all the time for no reason at all. Your body will rot. You will lose everything you’ve ever had. You and everything you’ve done will most likely be totally forgotten not long after you’re dead. And will certainly be forgotten eventually. Same with your friends and family. > \ Well, I don’t know about _you_ guys, but _I_ sure feel better! 😃 Seriously, **csharp** , one of the things that helps me when I get a case of the mortals is the phrase, “There is no absolute certainty.” Nobody knows. You never will know. Some stuff, you just have to put back on the shelf without figuring it out. Another ponderable - every craps. The sexiest, most famous person you can think of - just imagine them on the shitter with a magazine. The Queen of England, George W., that cute guy or girl, everybody. Heh. - featherlou, sitting here all naked under my clothes [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-take-my-mind-off-my-own-mortality/323480.md?page=3)