I’m not sure I want to die of a heart attack if I live to old age. I thought maybe I’d use a gun to relieve my suffering so that everything would end quickly, but I’m too scared. Are there any recommendations on how to die without suffering or something like that? Maybe I should leave this world during a happy dream?

Or should I humble myself and go through suffering before I die?

I’m clarifying: it’s not that I want to commit suicide when I’m young or right now, no, I mean when, let’s say, I have one day, a week or a month left to live suffering from an illness, or I know that after a while I’m going to have a heart attack that will definitely kill me.

  • palordrolap@fedia.io
    2·
    8 hours ago

    The very moment itself is nothing to be afraid of. It’s a moment. How many times have you fallen asleep in your life? How about passed out by other means?

    I imagine it’s going to be more like the latter than the former if you’re still in your right mind when it happens, but both ultimately happen outside of conscious control. Consciousness shuts down and then it’s all over.

    As you rightly surmise, it’s the indefinite period of time that leads up to that moment of no control that is the most difficult and is what requires the coping, if any.

    For that, it’s down to your own beliefs. If you’re not sure what they are, you might want to think about who’d be hurt by your “leaving early”, so to speak. (One of the main reasons I’m still here is that people I care about would be upset by it.)

    And don’t think that any decision you make now is set in stone. The day may come where your existence is unbearable. If you think you’re there or about to be there very soon, that would make it an excellent time to seek some kind of help. Therapy. Pain relief. Emergency hotlines. Those sorts of things. (Been there. Done that. Will probably be there doing that again at some point.)

    You may also want to take your religion, if any, into account, if your actions before the very moment are supposed to affect what, if anything, happens afterwards. (And if you don’t know your religion, I can’t help there.)