Most of us are terrified of death. It's the unknown, the darkness or nothingness, it's the regrets, it's the missed opportunities, and a plethora of countless other reasons. The cold hard truth is, we will all die. Everything in this world dies and goes back to the earth in which it came from.
Western religions tend to believe in an eternal heaven and hell situation, even that belief is split between the different denominations within Christianity. Evangelical Christians believe everyone is going to either heaven or hell for eternity and we need spend our lives on earth attempting to get into heaven. Universalist Christians believe that eventually everyone ends up going to heaven. There is a belief in purgatory within Catholicism which is essentially a waiting room for the afterlife.
Eastern Religions focus more on reincarnation. Spend this life doing good deeds and maybe in the next life you'll be rewarded, do bad deeds in this life and you may end up a dung beetle in the next. Some atheists believe in eternal oblivion, which essentially means when you die you just stop existing. This would be a very long post if I were to cover every belief about death that is held in this world but that's not what this post is about. The truth is, if there were a way to prove what happens after we die or if there is any form of continuation, no one has discovered it yet. You are free to believe whatever you so choose, my goal isn't to change your beliefs, it's to help you look at your fear of death.
What if I told you that the reason, you're afraid of death is because you're not living. I don't mean you don't exist or aren't in a living body. I mean you're not living your life to the fullest, you're not being your authentic self, and you have regrets and desires. Life and death go together, the same as light/dark, right/wrong, and self/other. They are all two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. Most people at the end of their life who give others advice on how to live is usually some version of "don't wait to do things", "life is short", and "be happy".
Most of us spend our lives living in the "someday" of the future, or the regrets from the past. Since we aren't living in the present completely, we are missing out on life as it is happening and therefore, we aren't living. We live our lives thinking that we'll finally be able to say everything we ever wanted to, to our Loved ones before we die but the truth is most of us don't get that chance, so we should say everything we want to say now, and not wait until it's too late.
We tend to keep a list of things in our mind that we would like to do "someday" when the time is right, but the time is never right, so we don't do them. We focus on all our past mistakes, pains, embarrassments, and perceived slights. Honestly most people are too worried about their own "mistakes" to really give any kind of shit about what "mistakes" anyone else has made. When people tell me what they remember about me, it's rarely ever the "mistakes" I've made, they usually remember the time I did something nice for them, or made them laugh, or made them feel good.
We humans tend to be the most inauthentic species on the planet. We are too afraid to simply be ourselves out of fear of what "others" may think of us, or how they may treat us. We pretend to be someone we're not; we all wear masks to protect our true selves. We suppress ourselves and our true nature. When we aren't living an authentic life, we are not living life to the fullest. We are terrified of death because we are missing out on life and know when we die, there will be so many things we will have missed out on.
When you live your life to the fullest and are your authentic self, without suppression, regret, or desire, the fear of death dissipates. You may still believe whatsoever you choose to about the afterlife, you simply stop being afraid of it, you stop caring what happens all together, and you see how absurd the infatuation of death really is.
Be you 100%, do what you want to do, say what you want to say, don't wait to do things that you want to do now. Don't worry about what your family or friends tell you about who you should be. Live your life now, for now is all there is, no one is guaranteed a future. Don't spend your life focused on your afterlife. Whatever happens after this life doesn't change the fact that you only get one life in this human earthly body, there will never be another you in this world. Enjoy your existence NOW, live your life NOW, YOU ARE MSSING OUT ON YOUR LIFE! Love as if your life depends on it, Live as if there is no tomorrow, Laugh as if there were no sorrow, and Play as if you were a child without a care in the world. I Love you and Peace Be With You!