You will find whatever you find. The interesting part is the hunt. If you discover something that will allow you to accept the notion of not existing, great. If you don't, that's okay too. Searching is the important part of the process -- it shows you're not afraid of facing the bogeyman.

Glad you joined us❣?
All things end. It's natural. It's ok. I'm terminally ill with a brain tumor. I got over myself. I did die during an operation...it was nothingness. No pain, no fear, just nothingness.
No big deal.
Life's been good. Forgive yourself & allow yourself to live. You're validated. Enjoy your life while you're here. ?

Why fear death? Do you fear the time before you were born? Live each day in the knowledge that your existence is a wondrous fluke & is yours to give meaning to & to enjoy to the fullest!

I think this is more of a question of making sure that the process of death is not frightful. This might include intervention with psychoactives, but I'm not medical staff or anything.

Maybe being saved helps? Is it possible to know one thing, but feel another?

Oddly enough, for me, I don't dread my death, but I still haven't gotten over a deep sadness that my mind won't continue on afterwards in Paradise. I'm pretty recent, too.

This was on NPR in 2005, spoken by Aaron Freeman...its basically what i want said at my funeral.

"You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.

And at one point you’d hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.

And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.

And you’ll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they’ll be comforted to know your energy’s still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you’re just less orderly..."

-Aaron Freeman.

Sam Harris explains that since nothing happens when we die, we shouldn’t fear death.

Remember how mad you were about not existing before you were born? exactly.

Only you can decide that for yourself. I do not fear the inevitable. I'm in no hurry for it, but
since it's going to happen whether I like it or not, I don't see any point in fretting about it.
That would be a waste of the time that I do have. However long that may be.

That said, welcome to the asylum. Enjoy your stay.

I tend to equate giving up on the idea of an afterlife as an adult with giving up on the idea of Santa Claus as a child, it's a shock at first but you get over it with time. It's better to live life with the reality of ones mortality than to put off living this life fully in hopes of an afterlife based only on fantasy, so live each day to the fullest. Cherish the life you have and know that a life well lived is its own reward.

Well for me I fear and dread it just like most people. I just don't take my life for granted. Breathing, being here right now is the miracle. I'm more free from the shackles to live a life that I choose for me.

I couldn't say. I think there are some variables. How observant of a theist were you? How deeply ingrained was this in childhood?
I would suggest that you read or watch Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers. Campbell was within a year of dying when he did this project. While this isn't a primer on becoming an atheist, it's a great introduction to learning the difference between metaphoric belief and literal belief.
Also check out the writings of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens (paradoxical given name for Hitchens!).
You might also expect one or two emotionally jarring events in your life that can affirm your disbelief. Or quite possibly being put under anesthesia. I've had this experience in which being unconscious is a chemically induced visit to the void.

I think it takes as long is you want it to take. I know I’m very matter-of-fact about things. I think I have a more existential approach to all of this especially when it comes to how we feel about things. I like Viktor Frankl’s idea about the one thing that no one can take away from us, and that’s the ability to feel any way that we want to feel about any given situation. When I put dogma aside, it gave me space to explore, research, and develop my own belief system. My belief is that we are energy and when we die we are transformed into something else and add our energy to that, whether it’s already existing or something new. A tree, a tire, a sandwich In that sense, we have always been here and we will always be here. Not souls, not spirits, not ghosts, not some non-corporeal form that goes to heaven or hell or somewhere in between. But becoming a part of everything, anything, billions of things in this universe. It is that belief that gave me peace. I don’t know if this helped you, but that’s how I figured it all out.

Growing up as a hardcore religious fanatic, I had the exact same reaction - I was so upset that praying was no longer practiced and all the ego's fears about death and the aftermath troubled me for a few years. I realized that I can never know what's going to happen to my consciousness after my body dies. My bodily fears the most is suffering, pain before I die. I'd want a quick painless death. I have to trust that since we're physically here on earth and we'll physically leave the earth... millions of people before us and after us gone through and will go through the same paths.... since it's working okay... we'll be okay. That's my logical thinking.

You don't know if your existance will end with your passing. Nobody here knows because no one here has died and report back. No need for anxiety. Live your life as you feel proper. And Welcome to our humble home.

I remember the comedian Buddy Hackett saying he wasn't afraid of death because "I figure I won't know about it."

why do you dread it? it will be like the ultimate restful sleep. you will be completely and blissfully unaware of anything. sounds a lot better than knocking about in a cloud with 25,000,000,000 "angels or 25,000,000,000 demons don't you think? its the way we might die that's the bad part but there's nothing we can do about that.

I believe you just hit on the main reason some turn to religion, they think they are so important they need to continue on after this life. In some ways being atheist means we need to be more responsible, in that we only go around once, can't make amends later. Can't see our loved ones "when we get up there" or " I know my mom is looking down, and proud". Or whatever BS they tell themselves. We need to get it right...now. I kinda like being a tiny insignificant ignorant bit of carbon in this huge universe. The only way we continue on is how we effect others.

that is not a requirement; just because you don't think (or don't know) what lies beyond - if anything - the end of this life is noting to ever treat lightly. Being Agnostic or Atheist doesn't mean you no loger have questions, or no longer fear the umknown. And I guarantee you that 'peopel of Faith' end up having the same feelings; they just fall back on an unprovable dogma to try and placate their dears. But those fears stil remain.

My suggestion? Try instead to focus on the life you have now. Make is great, and full of love. If you do that, then no matter what (if anything ) comes next, you will still be all set - for the now, and for the potential then.

Live well; be kind; help others; accept love from others; give love and kindness.

You do all that, to the best of your abilities, you won't have to worry about eternity.

I really don’t think the two are related. I know of atheists that do fear death.

I figure it will be the same as it was billions of years before I was born, one day I will close my eyes for the last time.
Any fear or worries will be gone. I won't know I'm dead, and I won't miss being alive.

If you dread or fear death you may not want to be athiest!

All wonderful answers, so all I can add is that once you realize that "what happens on earth, stays on earth" you might think about the joy you have brought to those you leave behind, and take comfort in the fact that they will think of you warmly, perhaps appreciate and carry on your good deeds, philosophy, passions, causes, etc., so that you will live on in their memories. No one is really gone until they are forgotten. Live your life now, best you can and make an impression, rather than wait for some rapture that never comes.

Until science unlocks the secret of biological immorality, death is a reality for everyone. My suggestion is to not waste time worrying about death, rather spend your time living.

You may always be concerned about death. Just don't forget to live.