What are your thoughts of dying alone?

Well I wouldn’t want another person in my coffin…

Do you mean “alone” as in no one would be with me in the room, or “alone” as in without having a significant other, family, friends, etc.?

We all die alone. No one goes with us on that final journey.

I want people to throw a party when I die.
[edit] I view death as a blessing.

@Facade as in no one with you before you go.

Makes me sad, for some reason.

Maybe because my father passed away with his loved ones around him, and it was one of the most beautiful ( and surreal ) things I’ve ever experienced.

In that case, I think I’d be fine with it, but I’d rather someone be there.

i think dying alone, thats pretty depressing but again “death” IS depressing.
maybe it would make me feel loved to die surrounded by the people i love.
:)

I hate this question, yet I’m drawn to it. I don’t think anyone wants to die alone, without someone with them at the end.

This is a difficult question for me, I was with my mother when she died and it was a complete surprise and not pretty. I wouldn’t want anyone I cared about to have to go through that.

However if it was more of a natural death then maybe I would like to say my last goodbyes

I think it’d be the perfect way to go out…

It certainly frightens me now. Perhaps I will feel differently once I’ve lived my life to the fullest and am near that point.

I guess that they would be my final thoughts.

We all die alone, no one comes with us, though some can be there during the process. I have come close to dying (serious cancer that I finally overcame – I was close enough to have had my funeral arranged) and when I though that I was not going to recover I alternated between wanting company and wanting to be left alone.

Dying alone or dying unloved?

I have already seen the death of a spouse. I do not know if my current partner and soul mate will die before I do but I do not fear dying alone.

I would not want to die unloved.

“Every living creature on this Earth dies alone.”

If it’s in Donnie Darko, you know it’s true.

Gawd, how creepy. I was thinking not more than two minutes ago about how I should get on the ball and find a roommate so there would be someone to notice if I ever had a heart attack. I’m now 10 years past the age when my grandfather died, and 6 years past the age when my father died; so either I’m due to go any minute or I’ll live till I’m 100 like the men on my mother’s side.

I don’t really care about dying alone or dying unloved. I just don’t want to stink up the house.

Jesus Christ died physical death alone on the cross, for us Christians is as dying with Christ and being reunited in better spiritual world with Him, so to us it’s a blessing.

Nobody should be alone when taking their last breath. I think being close to our loved ones gives us a sense of security when we are not at our best.

I’m not sure I want to be with anyone when I die. Maybe a few minutes before death, but in those last moments, I think I would want to contemplate the universe one last time and say my goodbyes to the experience of living.

Well for as long as I’m aware and lucid, I don’t want to be alone – after that it doesn’t matter…I am literally seeing my father die as we speak right now and he’s no longer really here and it doesn’t matter if anyone is here…I mean I’m sure it means something but it doesn’t really mean anything…I’m so thankful that he’s not in pain, just getting worse and worse in terms of fluid retention and heavy breathing…but people on fluther have helped with helpful tips on how to help him and I’ve been doing all those things…and told my mom too to do them

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I’m sorry to hear that, hang in there and around here!
@DarkScribe No one should have to go through that, it’s great you didn’t need it after all.
@TitsMcGhee Lurve for Donnie.

Right now I couldn’t care less about alone or not (Single, no kids, and I wouldn’t want my parents to bury one of their kids). I would like to think that someone will mourn over me, but I hope I have said all I wished for them to hear before that day comes.

I wouldn’t mind being surrounded by family and friends on my way out. If I did end up dying alone, I don’t think it would frighten me but it would bother me somewhat that someone wasn’t there with me. In fact, it’s even a little depressing to think someone might not be there so I’m not going to dwell on this any longer.

I hope to die in my sleep, so since I’ll be unconscious, it won’t matter if I’m alone or not. However, I would like to be with people I love before I go to sleep. I hope to have left nothing undone as far as “I love yous” are concerned.

Whenever anyone says what’s the scariest way to die I always think dying alone. Death is a part of life but being murdered (which I imagine would be the only time most people would die alone) would be the lonliest thing a person could ever experience.

I also would prefer to die in my sleep and not alone but the odds are against both. Most of us will die in hospital care during the hours when few people are awake or able to come to us quickly. I don’t like the thought but I’m not overly frightened.

I’d like to take everyone else along with me. All are welcome.

@Zuma – That is very considerate of you. I’m sure the next folks who occupy your current space will appreciate it not being stunk up!

And @ratboy – I like your answer as well, I usually do.

Personally I like @daloon‘s response, I would like to die in my sleep as well. But if I don’t, I wouldn’t want a loved one to have to watch me suffer. Nor do I want to suffer, so just let me have the bloody nembutal and get it over with!

Wow, talk about a sobering question. I don’t think it would be good to have someone in the room when I take that final curtain call. I’m not sure, it might be nice to have my wife holding my hand and kissing me as I go, but then, it would make her cry, and I hate it when I do things to make her cry. Like @daloon said, let me go out by just not waking up the next day. That would be easiest for everyone, I think.

When my Grandma died, it was in a closed up house, in the middle of August, and it was several days before we found out. It was a closed casket, for obvious reasons.

Quick, someone ask a light-hearted question, this is really bumming me out.

It doesn’t frighten or bother me! I’d rather die alone than live alone!

@ShanEnri nicely put

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Thank you!

If everyone knew that I was going to die and I was alone then that would suck. But i would have probably earned that somehow. If it was sudden and I was alone, well that’s understandable. My friends and family are not psychic.

I read somewhere that a nurse had said that most people’s end to life mirrors their actual life. I hope to leave as peacefully as I’ve lived and that’s all I care about.

I’d definitely want company. One last time to say goodbye, pretty much. One last time to see, touch, smell and be with the people I love. The idea of not being able to say goodbye frightens me very much. I would never let anyone I cared about die alone, regardless of whether or not they cared. :P It’s just how I am – with them ‘til the end.

Maybe it’s all those years I delivered babies, but I think ideally a dying person should have some human company and acknowledgement of the hard work they’re doing. I’ve often thought that hospice workers are really like midwives – they’re facilitating the transition at the other end of life.

An RN at our local hospitial created a program that is being copied at other facilities internationally called “No one dies alone”. Volunteers are on call to come and sit with dying patients who don’t have family or friends to be with them. So simple but humane.

I already know that I will be alone, it bothered me at first, but I have gotten used to the idea.

I think about dieing a lot, I think too much. Come close, maybe that’s why, not the thinking, but the too much to where it makes living icky. Like, ugh, I can’t stand myself, why am I such a douchebag? Dieing in my sleep doesn’t make sense to me, don’t think that the suffering before the actual, flatline, is so significant in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, it would suck to be tortured, but some people seem to put too much on dieing in one’s sleep being so much better, like after you die, there’s nothing, so it might as well be painless, kinda thing. I do think how we live determines how we die, just how far the rabbit hole goes, eternity, well,

My only big fear. ( that I am aware of)

I want someone to be around, preferably someone who cares.

Heaven, hell, oblivion, becoming a ghost, rotting in the ground, whatever, that’s not what worries me, I just want someone to care. not like i wanna be famous and remembered by a bunch of people, I just wanna feel like I had some sort of positive effect on one person.

I also don’t want my death to be painful or fearful. Dying alone, I think, would add to my fear level.

The thought of dying scares me. I’d want someone there..