I am sorry for your loss. Your post did not give any clue that you had recently lost your husband. I thought it was just a generic question.

I find comfort in knowing that our energy doesn't die, that it continues on in other forms.

Your husband was lucky to have someone who loved him as you did, and you were lucky to have had him and to experience such a love--not everyone is so lucky. It seems to me that you will always have that love with you, and it isn't selfish at all for you to miss him.

This is soo me!

Well, that seemed a bit harsh. But I asked.
Having just lost my husband and love of my life, I guess I'm looking for ways to deal with the loneliness of him being gone. Dead. Forever. I get it.
Does no one else struggle with the selfishness of missing a loved one who is dead & gone, forever?
Guess I'm asking the wrong group.

Why would we be any different from any other species on earth. What happens to a chimp, an elephant, a dog, a worm, an amoeba? The switch turns off. Grieving is a bit different and we do, of course grieve those we love. Other animals do that too, but not to the same extent.

Everything is energy in different forms. When we decompose, the energy that came together to form us returns to the earth thus allowing other life to exist.

There is no reason to think/believe that our consciousness survives the death of our brains; and I don't want it to.

I wish to be buried in a mushroom suit as I see this as the greenest, and most efficient, way for my energy to be released back into the mix.

You stop breathing and being.

Welcome to the site!
The honest answer is we don't know.

when you die the worms come and eat
you up. Unless you are cremated that is

What happens at death? You die and you are dead. This means certain physical changes set in slowly and forever. Let me explain using a toad. You have a dead toad and you set it aside. Come back and view it from time to time and see how it looks. It will dehydrate and become all shriveled up. Give it enough time and there is barely anything left. You can no longer distinguish it as a toad.

Oh, I'm sorry. You are talking about a human being so you add another property that you cannot prove and then you start making things up. Now death takes on a whole new meaning. At least some think it does, but I simply do not believe it.

What happens at death? Life ends.

Death
the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism.

No confirmed dead person has ever risen and told us what happens if at all anything happens... Who knows, maybe we are reborn on another planet in a distant far away solar system or we could enter a different kind of reality... Whooo knows

Actually what I find interesting is Becker’s ideas on death denial.

There is no way that I will find out anything once I am dead as I will be dead, you see.

The observation that human awareness is dependent solely on the functioning of the human brain does not constitute speculation.

Since I don't believe in souls or any other supernatural entities that would be needed to provide for any sort of afterlife situation, I believe that the essence of who we are is completely contained in the cells of our bodies, which, when dead (or severely dysfunctional like in late stage Alzheimer's) that essence ceases to exist.

Go read Carl Sagan.

Do you remember where you were before you were born? Same thing.

Here is what I think will happen when I die...
I will no longer breath, my cells will deteriorate and slowly break down, my skin will slowly display shades of blue due to lack of oxygen, after some time I will be cold to the touch as my core temperature will reach room temperature, my skin will go a Gray/Balck colour, and I will slowly decompose.
I won't be a reaming out in pain while this is happening because I'll be dead.
I won't feel or know anything, I'll be dead, nothing more, nothing less.

Welcome to the asylum. Enjoy your stay.

I have no worries about death. It's inevitable.
I don't believe in any afterlife. When you're dead, you're dead. There is nothing else, nothing more.
I'm totally good with that.

You can be agnostic AND a humanist.
I think you’re right, that it’s certainly all speculation with regards to death. My speculation is nothing supernatural happens.