17 years old and struggling with death anxiety. I can’t stop thinking “what’s the point?”
I’m 17, and over the past few months I’ve been struggling with what I think is death anxiety.
As much as I want to believe there’s an afterlife or that some part of us continues to exist after we die, I just can’t convince myself. My brain keeps coming back to the idea that death is just an eternal sleep—like before we were born.
That thought has completely changed how I look at life.
I keep asking myself: What’s the point of anything if it all ends?
Why work hard for good grades? Why make memories with friends? Why build a career or make money? Why try to live an amazing life if one day I’ll die and won’t even remember any of it?
I’ve tried telling myself that I should just enjoy life while I have it, but then I think, “Why bother if none of it lasts?”
It’s gotten to the point where it’s hard to enjoy things. I’ll be out with friends or spending time with my parents, and instead of having fun, I start thinking about the fact that one day they’ll die, and so will I. It makes it difficult to stay in the moment because I’m constantly thinking about losing everything.
I don’t want to die. I want to live a long, happy, successful life. I just don’t know how to find meaning when I can’t stop thinking that everything eventually disappears.
Has anyone else gone through this? Did these thoughts ever get better? How did you learn to cope with them or find meaning in life despite knowing it ends?