fear of eternity

[lyn87]

I am not sure where this idea came from, and why it consumes me so much and others fail to obsess over it like I do but I am terrified of eternity after death.  I am not afraid of dying, but of eternity afterwards.  Do we remain aware of things?  This notion, even the idea of being in a happy place like heaven forever, terrifies me.  Anything, no matter how good, that continues without end, is my worst fear, and thinking about it literally forms knots in my stomach and intense fear.  I know that the answer to this can not be proven, and most would find relief in the idea of eternity, but it is my worst fear.  Does anyone else share this fear?  What can I do?  

[fairybowldust]

Everyone this has bothered me through out my life I am now close to 50.  I am not as bad about it.  I was told to remember we live in a world where time was given to us.  In heaven there is no time so we will not be aware of how long we are existing in heaven therefore it will not bother us.  God promises us a place of no pain, no bad things, a place we will be joyful and praising God.  If there is no time in heaven then eternity cannot bother us.

[sgrm8]

Objectively? We actually are meaningful objectively. Think about all the special things about us and life that nothing else has. We're special lol. I don't need to explain; you just need to think :)

[Meg8585]

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one...as many people have stated as well.  I too have had the fear since I was young, and now I'm 30 and over the last few days it's the worst it's ever been.  It's like my brain can "understand the capacity of eternity" for a second and then I have a full blown panic attack.  

I have been on Wellbutrin for 4 months or so and my anxiety about eternity was so much better until recently.  Coincidentally I don't feel the Wellbutrin has been as effective recently.  I am on a pretty high dose, so I'm not sure if anyone can recommend something that worked better for them? Maybe an anxiety med in combination w/  the Wellbutrin?

-Megan

[IsaacIsGibson]

I have this problem bro.
I wake up at night and feel like nobody can save me.
The thought is horrible. I've had it forever. I have dreams of falling in a hole for eternity. I'm only 14 and this eternity thing *****.

I'm a christian.
Not Catholic. If you think God isn't real it might be Catholalasism.
The Catholic church revolves around works like you haft to do something to work your way to heaven.

This is not right. God loves you no matter what.
In the bible it says your sins will be washed away (In Heaven).
This means the scary thought of eternity will be gone.

I hope God is your savior. He it mine. -Peace

[IsaacIsGibson]

I have this problem bro.
I wake up at night and feel like nobody can save me.
The thought is horrible. I've had it forever. I have dreams of falling in a hole for eternity. I'm only 14 and this eternity thing *****.

I'm a christian.
I know I'm going to heaven. There is proof that God exists nick.
Who made this universe? We didn't come from apes.

I believe that when I go to heaven this fear will be gone. The fear of eternity is just from Satan. Satan wants you to dwell in fear. God loves us.

[Ty84]

Hi everyone, I'm 31 and have had this same fear since I was 8 endless panic attacks and eventually it lead to depression. After a really bad bout of depression I decided I could never go to that place again. My mother died last month and I feel the thoughts flooding back in! But I am determined to stay strong as my fear started due to be selected from her, now see is actually gone. Anyways let me give you some things that have helped and still do. This will be for people who do not have fauth

1.time stops for u when u die, time is relative to u as an individual and just a perception of our minds so technically there is no "enternity" once you die.

2. If we think about "nothing" we shouldn't be scared as nothing is not a type of something it's nothing, hard one for our minds to comprehend.

3. These intrusive thought s are completely irrational but our egos treat them as fact. It's usually tied to something else, separation anxiety, loss etc etc so try tour understand that your mind has probably disassociated this thought of death/eternity with something a lot more complex as a small child and now it's your go to framework when you feel down etc.

Finally, understanding do that these attacks, thought processes become habitual over the years , what I find very helpful is when ever u have the intrusive thought break the pattern, jump up, walk around , start a conversation what ever it takes,  I think u find that in time u will do this automatically and will help massively and u won't peak and freak out!

I sincerely hope this helps some of you as it has me! I could rant on forever, excuse the irony but, good luck everyone