Has taking care of an elderly person caused you to think of your own mortality?
I don’t think I consciously do this but of course the thought of my own death occurs from time to time due to being around a 90 plus year old daily!
I did some reading up on this topic and psychologists say that if a death occurs of someone close to us it can cause us to think of our own mortality. That certainly makes sense but I think just being near the elderly daily can do it too.
I wonder how nurses and doctors deal with it. Do they become immune to death? What about law enforcement?
My brother is different after retiring from the force. Geeeeez, lots of people in law enforcement end up with PTSD, just like military. Military personal see death also. I wonder which group of people are effected the most.
I know it happens to me. Death crosses my mind as a caregiver. Also, do the elderly think of death on a daily basis? My 97 year old cousin thinks of making it to a 100! Others constantly say, ‘God willing’ all the time.
Other circumstances can cause thoughts of death as well, such as waiting for important medical tests results and so forth.
Some people obsess over death. Even at a younger age. I remember doing this as a child because my parents took me to a lot of wakes and funerals as a young child and my great aunt told me the deceased person was only ‘sleeping.’
I had nightmares thinking I would end up sleeping permanently in a casket. I had brothers who adored horror films and being the only girl I was constantly outnumbered, so I ended up seeing Vincent Price films at a young age. Gosh, I still remember House of Ushers. So the nightmares continued.
The scenes in those films, hands clawing out of a casket and so forth.
Oh, let’s not forget Hitchcock films! I love Hitchcock but as a young child it was too scary.
I don’t think people understood then how to explain death to a child.
Please share your thoughts.
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One thing I did learn, I rather let nature takes its course then deal with harmful side effects of medicine to keep one alive. I had cancer ten years ago and the med side effects made me wish I wasn't alive. Thus, if cancer 2.0 shows up, I will refuse treatment. I will take quality over quantity.
Both my parents grew up on farms, thus for them they learned about the circle of life and I learned from that. Thus, when my parents passed, it was an easy transition.
Now my sig other is still in morning for everyone in his family who passed on going back 50 years. He even writes their death date on the calendar. Thus, he had a different upbringing. His Aunts, if they lost a husband, the aunts would wear black the rest of their lives as they never remarried, thus death was always a reminder when he saw his Aunts. He goes through a lot of "what ifs".