How did it feel before you were born?

I dread and fear it, but not because I will cease to exist, but because I'm in love with living.

I will have to say that at times I share your thoughts. One thing that provided a little solace was a tv spot that Robin Williams did (ironically shortly before he committed suicide - of course it would have been difficult to be shortly after). The tag line at the end was to the effect that life (for the species) is the equivalent of a never ending story and your life is the opportunity to add a verse or chapter to the story. Personally, when I need something to focus on I think that if there is actually any purpose to our existence it is far bigger than the "mere" concept of god encompasses. Any purpose would have to be the same for the entire universe and thus I choose to think that my life is the universes way of experiencing itself. As Jackson Browne said in a song: "the only thing that survives, is the way we live our lives."

Remember how things were before you were born? That's how it will be after you pass.

How do you know your existence will end? I do not mean in the sense of heaven or as a religious argument. What I mean is having not died how do you know what happens? If you want to believe as apparently many Atheists do that death is the end of all that is your right but it is a belief in that their is no proof. Absence of knowledge is not proof. The way I see it why fear the unknowable? I fear the pain possible in the manner of my death. I fear the pain it may cause others being one who abhors causing others pain.

What are you afraid of? I don't fear death because I know that no matter what, I have lived a good life. I sometimes wish I could live forever just to see how it all turns out. Then sometimes I get afraid that I will see how it all turns out in the 80 to 100 years I do get. But my death in and of itself holds no power to make me sfraid.

Excellent question!!! I believe we all fear the unknown. If most theist would be honest even though they claim to have "Hell Insurance" ...they still don't want to die. Even those guys will have no existence after death..."ashes to ashes, dust to dust"

My best advise to myself is to enjoy life as much as possible and consider death as a sort of time to go to sleep after a great day. ?

Congratulations on overcoming Pascal's Wager! I will only say this: was the nothingness before you were born so terrible? Then neither will be the emptiness that comes after. It's really only the transition that makes me nervous, but there's not a lot to be done about it.

The idea that you weren’t afraid of death because of what awaited was based on nothing whatsoever and sold to you by snake oil salesmen.

Who wants to live like that?

Instead it’s the very acceptance of this fact, that allows me realize how special this happy accident is, not only of life, but the consciousness and security we have that allows us to ponder such things, aspiring to not waste it and live it to the fullest, before our molecules and atoms are recycled into the earth... and later... through the cosmos.

Just my thoughts. Hope it helps

"It depends".

I find that people who dread their mortality as atheists probably dreaded it as theists. They just had comforting lies to paper it over with, and don't now. So the problem isn't caused by deconversion, it's simply exposed by it.

Personaly I never dreaded it when I was a believer and if anything my unbelief made me even more accepting of my mortality.

You might want to read philosopher Ernst Becker, particularly Denial of Death, to get a little perspective on this. It's a particularly powerful book given that it was written while he was dying. The short version: the whole story of human history is the story of people's immortality projects, their attempts to deny, cheat, and circumvent death.

The only general advice I can convey is to consistently deal in reality (always a work in progress; our brain really doesn't like reality). Remind yourself that mortality is not just the fact of death, it is a (for lack of a better term) "scope" for your existence. A lot of existential angst is tangled up in the desire to accomplish something -- to do rather than to be. To perform. To excel. To triumph. To demostrate proficiency and to acheive success.

All of these strivings are rather poorly defined and we're always failing at them, and all of them are designed, not to do good, so much as to make sure we leave an impression. That we will be remembered even after we are gone.

I find it liberating to realize that none of that is necessary, that I can inhabit the present moment, leave as little as possible unsaid to my loved ones, be as kind as possible, and try to ease other's way in life -- and it is sufficient, even if not as acknowledged or appreciated as it "should" be. Just do my bit ... don't worry about being lauded now or later for it, don't worry about how indispensible I imagine myself to be. The dread of death is in large part (for me anyway) an ego inflation -- the notion that I'm more important than I actually am. When I'm less important, my sense of accomplishment and adequacy increases. Things become "doable" if you will.

Just my $0.02 plus inflation for what it's worth. You're on the right track; just keep walking into the light of knowledge -- self knowledge, knowledge of reality -- embrace it in all its beauty and absurdity and fragility and impermanence. In time, you'll find peace,

I'm puzzled how anyone can be that sure about anything. I certainly am not!

Anyway, Shakespeare's Hamlet of course reversed the dread:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

Dread and fear of dying are good thing when they make one appreciate the life one has right now and inform choices one makes to stay healthy and live well for a long time. Attention on now, not a future fantasy is the gift you are giving yourself. Celebrate!

There is no point in dreading the inevitable. No one gets out alive. We all know, one day, we are going to die. Knowing that, make every day count. Do what you love. Cut toxic people out of your life, family be damned. Work on being the best at something. Take care of yourself, be smart, sensible, have a cookie. Learn something new, every day. Sing, out loud, every where. I have never stood at a coffin, looking at the deceased & heard, "they could have vacuumed more." Enjoy the day, plan for the future, kiss toads, tell grating people to feck off in no uncertain terms and make damn sure the Grim Reaper has to run to catch you.

I think fearing death is a natural thing. It’s evolutionary. We were ‘created’ to survive, at least for a while. But it’s also natural to die. I think Western thought has kind of taken us away from that awareness. In Western thought we’re taught that death is the worst thing that can happen to us, aging is almost death, and ‘living’ is based on material gain.

Fear is part of the human experience, and fear of death as well. And the idea that our existence just stops is a bit disturbing (and comforting at the same time). It’s something that’s going to happen and there’s absolutely no way to avoid it—which may help us make peace with it. But I don’t think we ever stop fearing it.

Fully accepting my mortality enables me to be fully alive. It has taken time quietly questioning my thoughts about death to find acceptance.

Atheistic Taoists hold we should treat everything we are given with delight and when it is gone give it no more thought. I say we should look upon growing older as an opportunity to love, cherish and identify with those things that will continue once your own heart stops beating. ?

The truth is, whatever is going to happen will happen, nothing can change that, so why worry.
Live each day with a smile.

Look at it this way.
Everything that lives will die, there is nothing after that no afterlife.
It is no different for believers, they will still die, they will not have another life after this.

So accept that you have been dying since the day you were born, your now is more important than you past or future because they do not exist. They have existed or will exist, but for now they don't.
Your death is part of your life as much as your birth was, they are like book ends.
Your life is the books and pages of books in between.
To quote Don Maclean,
the book of life is brief,
and once a page is read,
all but love is dead.

Life is a journey,
except you don't finish this journey and look back on it,
you end when the journey ends.
Nothing will or can change that.
Accept what life is,
accept the reality of it because you can't change it.
Accept it and enjoy it,
savour it, relish it,
LIVE it.
I have spent time with a lot of people even older than I am who are quite happy to shuffle off,
as you get older
life is less fun
I am noticing it myself,
I cannot do as much as I could and I still have 35 years and 23 days to go as of today.
When that is gone I think I will be content to shuffle off.
If you are around, the party starts 16th February 2053 and goes for 3 months.
When you fully accept your mortality, it is actually quite easy.

I worked as a fisherman for many years, I think once you have come close or pushed to the edge you learn to accept your mortality a bit better, I doubt many of us want to die and it's something we must all prepare our minds to work through..Try Skydiving or bungee jumping .. certainly give you the fear and once you experience that it should be easier..If all you do is sit and wonder that's all you'll ever do..confront it and smile at it then say see ya later..

I think that's all up to you my friend..However a fear of death isn't something to be ashamed of and there's probably not much to do about it anyways..I don't think about it often but the prospect is a bit unnerving for me..The trick isn't to not be afraid of death..The trick is now to let it ruin your day.

Why do you think you are compelled to believe any of that?

This makes me laugh on one level and makes sense on the other. Hope it works for you too ?

Know that nothing has changed, and strive to be proud and enjoy your time here. also, organically, we never die, just change form. Now you can appreciate all beauty unfiltered and know that you are good. Be your own judge, live & let live, lift others up and protect kindness. Be a hero

I find it it be a huge relief to know that it will all end one day. When you are struggling but you know that if it going to be finite...WHEW! Suppose you believe in an afterlife (any of them)...you would have to wade through shit forever! You don't have to worry about eternal damnation or spend eternity stuck with those turds you didn't like here on earth. It is a win-win. You are. You will forever have been. That is pretty amazing. So just enjoy as much as you can of your time here and know that everything miserable will end so try not to get too upset by it. If that won't do it for you then know that there will come a day that you hurt so bad that you won't mind it ending - not trying to be obnoxious. I see elderly people all the time that are ready to go whenever it happens because the body starts giving out. They look back on their lives and appreciate the people that were a part of it and are ready to have it end.

Try living every day the best you can and learn from ypur mistakes and hopefully in time you'll be satisfied with your life and no longer fear death.