30 People On An Unchangable Fact About Life That Terrifies Them

1. leeceia

That we reduce people to statistics. But the only one that’s accurate is 100% of people die.
And that because we can’t visualise stats or numbers or know everyone who dies, we lose perspective on things like the Holocaust. As they say, one death is devastating, 10 deaths is a tragedy, 100 deaths is just a number.

2. Ocramzeej66

The first radio waves that were transmitted from Earth at a powerful enough strength to be possibly be heard from nearby star systems were the 1936 Berlin Olympics, headed by Adolf Hitler. So far they have only spread 76 light-years distance. The Milky way is 100k-120k light-years in diameter. We are approximately 27k~ light-years away from galactic center. The light from the Sun that shone in the sky the day that Jesus was crucified hasn’t even reached the center of the galaxy. If a person were to stand on a planet in the Polaris (the North Star) system and be able to look at the Earth through a telescope, America hasn’t been founded yet, and Mary, Queen of Scots has just been executed. Sir Francis Drake is currently circling the world. At this same point last galactic year, which is how long it takes our solar system to orbit the Milky Way, neither Pterodactyls, Triceratops, nor Tyrannosaurus Rex’s had evolved yet.

3. glaux

In a little more than hundred years the Earth will be inhabited by an entirely new set of people.

4. Brezita

The fact that I don’t know what kind of future my future children are gonna have to live through.

5. [deleted]

That we have the technology to swallow all life on Earth in nuclear fire.
“If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. I am become death, destroyer of worlds”
Bhagavad Gita

6. jaded_fable

That every single person you know you will see for the very last time at some point. You will likely have no idea when this point comes, and for many of the people you still consider good friends, this may have already passed.

7. Major_Motoko

That I can only do so much. I can do everything in my power but there are always things out of your control.
Shit Happens.
Guess I just gotta enjoy the ride as much as I can. Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.

8. DDani

That I could die any second from any freak accident and never see it coming.

9. lucy__b

That this is all real. And that my actions have consequences, not only for me, but for others.

10. rutefoot

The people in charge, those making life or death decisions on a day to day basis, are winging it, just like the rest of us.

11.[deleted]

That I’m alive.
I think I’m depressed.

12. fretmasterj

It always kinda freaked me out how narrow our visual spectrum is. The naked eye is blind to most most of the electromagnetic spectrum, there could be any number of scary thing all around us and we’d never know.

13. willmoorexcore

That stuff will continue to happen after I die

14. HmmmNol

I have a huge family. Eventually I will have to cope with them all dying, one by one. And that when I pass my family will have to cope with me dying.

15. isocline

The thought that we, the human race, could be the most intelligent beings in the universe is utterly depressing. We are the most intelligent? Us? The species who has to warn some members not to eat the silicon that comes in shoe boxes?
But really, I think that there is almost certainly intelligent life out there. The universe is too vast for there not to be. I just hope if we ever find each other, that we don’t massacre each other, on purpose or by accident.

16. zvuk

That practically nobody in this world acually knows what they are doing.

17. n7198

That my boyfriend and I are either going to break up or be together forever. Not sure which one is scarier.

18. phoenix0r

Death. I know some people already mentioned it, but thinking about the actual moment of my death freaks me out and tingles my spine. The fact that ill eventually stop breathing and possibly feel it coming; that true ‘this is it’ moment when I realize I won’t get to be alive anymore. I hope that moment isn’t filled with regret.

19. glaux

Every single second the collective consciousness of the human race experience about 150 years.

20.betty_corp

The brain named itself.

21. thoughtsBcomedestiny

…how much freedom everyone has in every moment that nobody realizes. There could be so much happiness and peace in the world if everyone just lived and focused their minds on the present moment.

22. GKit11

That our qualifications, awards, ranks, social statuses, etc are only as good as people make it out to be.

23. zombiejedi

“Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” ― Arthur C. Clarke

24. Ardailec

We won’t solve the issues with Long-distance space travel for organic life in my life time. It’s very possible that we may never solve all of the issues. Particularly when it comes to dealing with the effects of low-gravity. Muscle deterioration, that weird thing with the eyes. Hell, just the idea of Faster-than-Light.
Which means that this 3rd rock is likely all we’ve got. Thus, it’s more likely that the future will end up into Judge Dredd than Star trek.
We may never learn if we are alone in the cosmic void.

25. shhhGoToSleep

The unfathomable size of space and the unknown.

26.ContactZero

A few things that drive me crazy or make me feel awful.
The beginning of the universe. Whatever your belief, whether it be that someone created the universe or whether it was the big bang or whatever else, I always think that surely at some point there had to be nothing. Surely, there was nothing around whatsoever. It’s hard to comprehend nothingness, but if there was nothing around, how did something actually come into existence? I just find it hard to comprehend that one tiny atom or molecule or a person existed and things continued from there. How can something just have existed at the start of time?
Our current lives. Again, it changes on your beliefs but there is a good chance that this is the only life you may get. I like my life, I like the people around me, my friends, my family, the situation i’m in. I’m content with it. We grow older and the people around us will inevitably disappear, and by that I mean friendships don’t last forever. Think in regards to primary school, highschool, college, and university. We meet loads of people and we make friends with them, but for whatever reason, you don’t stay in touch with them. As time goes on you lose more and more friends as people move away or you do or whatever. I just think as time passes, it is sad that I don’t get to stay in touch with these people or they don’t really feel the need to stay in touch either. It’s hard when that person you were close friends with in year N are now slowly fading out of your life, and no matter what you do, you can’t stay in touch with them because they aren’t really all that bothered.
Further to that point, death. If we die is that it? How depressing would that be? That after we die, there’s nothing, that we just disappear and we’ll never know about anything ever again. If not, and we reincarnate or something else, would that not also be depressing? In my case it would, like I said, I like my life at the moment. Although it’s a meaningless point as I would be none the wiser, I don’t like to think about not knowing about the people I have in my life at the moment. Neither do I like to think about not knowing about the experiences i’ve had so far in my life.
There’s more things, but i’ll leave it at that.

27. runafoul

Often when I am on public transport or in large crowds, I suddenly realise that all of the people around me have just as much going on in their life as me and they are all thinking about things. Like, there is just so much consciousness going on all the time that I am completely unaware of. And this fact makes it so much easier not to care about those people, which is terrifying.

28. gtfb96

That I, and everyone I know, will one day not exist on Earth.

29. triceratops3

Everything. Fuck anxiety.

30. Lapid

“I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.”
-Banksy