That it’s normally never quick and painless and that it can happen at any time.

You could just be walking down the street and trip and fall into the road or smack your head off something or have a heart attack/stroke/aneurism.

One missed second with hitting the brakes in your car. One misstep. One mistake. Hell you can even be doing everything right and still get caught in something that leads to your death.

How to accept and let go of someone. I lost my dad very early in my life. It was sad, and unexpected, and to this day it does feel like I lack a father figure (hope this doesn’t sound weird, English isn’t my first language). But, I realize, there’s no use excessive crying over someone’s death. It’s not like I can change anything about that. I learned quickly it’s better to leave the past and move on.

If you ask me whether I miss him or not, I do miss him. But, really, it’s not something I can control.

Whelp, I’ve got cancer. It’s the second time I’ve had it. About 9 months ago I was told the docs would treat me but I probably wouldn’t make it.

Its been a hell of a time.

It’s a blood cancer so at the moment I look normal from the outside. I’ve changed a lot though, in the sense that I’ve become more me.

I don’t give a shit about anything except for spending time with people I like. I especially don’t care about money or work.

It (death) is taking a lot longer to happen than I thought it would.

The real trip has been seeing other people’s reactions; I accepted it early on but other people have had very different reactions. Mostly I think they just don’t know how to react, or they don’t think it will actually happen, or both.

I don’t think the human mind is capable of understanding the concepts of “eternity” or “oblivion” very well.

I do believe in God but it’s still scary.

Its the everyday things that catch you off guard; the other day I was wondering when the next soccer world cup would be, then I realised I probably wouldn’t be around for it.

I think when I finally die it will be a relief from all the physical pain.

I’ve had an absurd amount of death in my life, double digits by the time I was 18. Every one of them I knew personally or was family. From a variety of ways. Accidents, suicides, sickness, drugs.

What I learned from this is that, its gonna happen. Life as a whole isn’t all that special to the world or to the universe. But your experiences and everything you put value in, is.

At this point, death is more like (in my eyes) someone taking a trip and I just gotta say Goodbye and hope they do well because they won’t be able to talk to me anymore. Remember the good stuff and why you liked em, and move on. Because it’s gonna happen to you and others in your life too and if you dwell too long you won’t be able to remember the people around you now and why you liked them too.

Nothing is a bigger regret than trying so hard to cling to someone out of reach that you never held on to those reaching for you

No matter what, if you love somebody, tell them as often as you can. Say it every time you say goodbye. Don’t let someone walk away when you’ve both said nasty, hurtful things. If you are putting off seeing someone, or calling someone, just do it.

You cant take ANY of that back. And you’ll never forgive yourself.

I haven’t personally died yet, so no first person report. My dad died suddenly when I was 16, gently it seems; and my stepson by suicide, not at all gently. From these experiences I will say PLEASE try not to die before your parents do. It’s sad to lose a parent but we all know it will happen. We recover. Losing a kid? No, I don’t think anyone really recovers from that.

I don’t know if this counts but it’s the closest I’ve been to death.

I had an accidental breakthrough on DMT. I don’t even remember what happened during that 12 minutes except brief things that came to me in daydreams and night dreams afterwards. But before I did it, I was suicidal and ready to die. When my consciousness came back I was no longer the same person. I felt like I had just lived 1,000 years. I immediately felt like the world was no longer on my shoulders, and I involuntary started screaming about how much love there is in the universe. Before that, I had struggled with the concept of unconditional love. I used to have daily suicidal ideation, typically multiple times daily, but I have only experienced ideation a few times since then. Over a decade ago.

At one point in time I was inundated with death. Due to the fentanyl epidemic and other mental health and drug related issues, I’ve watched many friends die. Thankfully I’m in a much better place now, I’m no longer in that place I was hiding from myself before that day. Whatever death is, whatever reality is, I no longer fear it. I fear not being able to provide for my wife and children after I’m gone, but that’s it.

To answer the accidental breakthrough question before it comes up: I was sniffing DMT fumurate (nasally active) at doses around 20-50mg, walking around my house, looking at the static dewwy webs of light, walking over them, under them, trying to hold them. I was so intrigued by the lack of movement of the visuals, where with other psychedelics you can blink or shift your eyes and it goes away. I did a few larger lines in a row and my vision started to bend and fold in on itself and I instinctually laid down in my bed.

I was in the waiting room for my friend when the surgeon came in and told us he had a week to live. The sound his family began to make was haunting and terrifying. It was a deep groaning and crying that I haven’t heard since. It made my hairs stand up on end and it made me quake. There is nothing heavier than death.

Oh, I just had a near death experience! Ran a stop and almost got hit by a bus; would’ve hit me right on the ribs! I’ve had another crash before where a powerline pole fell over my car, right next to my head.

My experience? Life didn’t flash before my eyes. I was just very scared at the moment, and was anxious and upset for a few hours after. It’s definitely going to change how carefully I drive moving forward.

Otherwise, I’ve seen a lot of patients sick, dying or terminally ill, working as a physician. It definitely affected the way I see life; I try to care less about what other people think I should be doing and instead act in a way I think is right. I am happy and satisfied that if I die I will be thought of fondly by most people I’ve interacted with.

Death by massive head injury is not a bad way to go. I remember a sunny morning, heading to the bank a mile from my house to deposit my paycheck, and riding towards work. I merged behind a Jeep Grand Cherokee to pass an idiot that was double parked in the bike lane. It was down hill and I easily topped 35 mph to match speed with the Jeep. That is the last thing I remember. Like it was all totally blank and even worse than anesthesia level blackout.

Three hours later, someone pulled a large piece of glass out of my face that severed major nerve in my lip. That woke me up.

That is how I want to go; a pretty day on a nice bike ride, feeling fantastic, then totally blank.

In reality, I was lucid the whole time apparently, or so I was told. I honestly do not have ANY memory of it whatsoever. If you know of anyone that dies tragically with a major head injury, I want you to think of me. Even if they appeared conscious or aware but disoriented, that wasn’t the last thing they felt or remembered, I promise, I’ve lived it; only barely survived it. I still don’t remember a thing.

My experiences with death has cured me of any atheist delusions. There’s a damn good reason they say, “there are no atheists in foxholes.” It’s not about whether you believe this or that to be real or not real - that is irrelevant - it’s about what matters in those horrible moments people experience true mortality before they go. It’s not pretty like they pretend it to be in the movies, and armchair philosophizing doesn’t mean squat to people then.

letting your hamster ball roll down the stairs isn’t good