I'll be honest: I feel the same way. I think about death daily. Sometime I feel slightly panicked when I think that I'm going to die. I honestly can't say I've come to peaceful terms with my own mortality yet, and quotes about not existing before I was born don't really help me very much, personally.

But recently I watched a couple of great documentaries about death that somehow made me feel a bit more a bit peaceful about it the last few weeks. It felt like maybe turning some kind of corner, if not exactly a breakthrough. Maybe this isn't for you, or not yet, but I thought I'd mention it in case you take an interest some time. The two I saw most recently were about terminally ill people making choices about the moment their lives will end. The peace that they make with the inevitable end, and the process of planning for it with their families, somehow really touched to me and brought the reality into a sharper focus and softer light at the same time. It may sound odd and counter-intuitive, but I found it therapeutic to watch these sad but beautiful stories about real people confronting death, which is something we all must ultimately do.

One is called "How to Die in Oregon" about the death-with-dignity law, following the lives of terminally people and others directly affected by it, and the other is a Frontline piece called "The Suicide Tourist" about a similar subject. And a few years ago (while I was still a believer, actually) I also enjoyed another intimate documentary about the subject called "A Family Undertaking," which is about a movement of people who make preparations to be buried at home by their own families. It's a very stark and raw subject, but like I said, there's something surprisingly, counter-intuitively comforting about watching touching stories of real people confronting and processing the reality of their death, at least for me. (And whether they help or not, they're beautiful and moving films, if anyone is interested in good documentaries.)