Coping With The Fear Of Death
Strategies For Overcoming And Moving Forward
Talking about death is as comfortable as discussing politics with the in-laws who strenuously dislike you at Christmas — best avoided, somewhat unsettling, but sooner or later you can trust someone to bring it up. Probably uncle Larry after a few too many libations. Considering our own death is markedly less fun, but it must be done.
I was asked by a close friend recently if I had any advice for a woman struggling with death anxiety. Having worn a uniform for a minute, it’s something I’ve thought about often. As a professional soldier, and a leader of soldiers, you need to have some clear ideas on this before deploying to a place where you might get killed. Watching an 18 year old man make a will before he goes off to war is sobering in the extreme. While my advice is by no means a panacea, it might be helpful to some.
Everyone, at some point in their lives, will struggle with accepting the certainty of their own deaths. It requires some mental gymnastics at first. As a child we can’t fathom the world without us; we lack the cognitive skills to do this. As we get older it becomes intellectually easier to grasp, but almost offensive that we’ll die and the world will just keep on trucking.
How dare they?
