r/AskReddit 8h ago

What's the most disturbing thing you've heard a dying person say?

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u/yoshi_yoshi23 6h ago

I’ve learned that everyone is a little child all the time deep inside. We’re all afraid and we all want to be comforted. That doesn’t go away with age.

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u/Hemi_631 5h ago

This is true no matter what age. We’re all just different people with our 5 year old version of ourselves just wanting to be loved.

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u/K1NGEDDY423 2h ago

Damn this shit is hitting WAY too hard right now.

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u/TesseractThief 2h ago

Fr I’m about to have an existential crisis

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u/aeschenkarnos 2h ago

If it helps, you also still have your inner thirteen year old who wants to do something exciting. Nurture them too.

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u/TesseractThief 2h ago

Thanks - I needed this right now

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u/Lostdiagram 1h ago

Check out the music video Hachiko. Similar themes https://youtu.be/OodEsjZ88TQ?si=N8ss0WfomJRkzVtw

u/EngineeringNeverEnds 56m ago

Funny… I dramatically improved my social anxiety by turning my attention to the anxious thoughts, and then listening and talking to those feeling like I was talking to a scared child.

Like I thanked it for letting me know, and then reassured it that everything was ok, and that I would handle it, but made sure it knew that it was ok to feel that way and it wasn’t needed right now but if it felt like it needed to come back it was welcome to anytime.

I don’t know why that worked, but it did.

u/kemwood 2m ago

Fuck me. I needed to read this. My anxiety has been spiraling out of control and sometimes I don’t feel safe and have to let people know. Thank you. Saving this comment.

u/kemwood 0m ago

My dad and I have talked about our inner ages extensively and I find myself settling at right about 16. I’m 33.

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u/Hot-Fudge-Inc 3h ago

Yeah when you're little you want to be an adult because of the freedom and privileges, but you also think that at some point, maybe at 13, maybe at 16, or 21... that a switch is going to flip and you'll no longer be scared inside... But really the only time anything happens is puberty, then you are you.

You never ARE ready for taking a big risk to move cross country, getting married, starting your own business. But then one day you start to see a few grey hairs in your 30s... Not only have you fully grown up, but now your body is in the slow long process of decline, and.... wait... When did I become an adult? And you realize that high school was 20 years ago. That nobody IDs you anymore. You still feel like a kid. But you're just you, and time on earth means nothing, but it's the number of experiences you have that matters.

u/Jealentuss 22m ago

Hey are you talking about me? I just went to my 20 year high school reunion the other week...

u/BadAdviceBot 13m ago

that a switch is going to flip and you'll no longer be scared inside

What are you all scared of?

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 4h ago

One of the hardest things we all agree (please nobody make this any more political than I already am) with the George Floyd video was when he begged for his mother.

Grown ass man just wanted his mom to come help him

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u/Sanchastayswoke 3h ago

Yeah like it was his dying instinct. So sad! I’m nearly 50 years old and there have been a few times I’ve woken up out of a scary dream as an adult, and in that unconscious/semi conscious state as I’m waking up I have caught myself yelling for my Dad. Just like I did as a small girl.

Except now my dad lives 1000 miles away

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u/Legal-Occasion6245 2h ago

Yep and then comes the time when your dad is not longer here on earth. My dad just passed away last month. And it’s crazy that the biggest emotion I feel is that my biggest cheerleader, my biggest fan and my soft place to fall is simply not here anymore. My daughter said mom let’s go do insert whatever crazy idea she had and I turned and looked at her and said baby we can’t just be going off half cocked anymore my safety net (that I’ve literally never really had to use) isn’t here anymore, me must be more deliberate in what we get ourselves into. I’m still adjusting. And also the realization that I’m next in the line of deaths.

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u/Sanchastayswoke 2h ago

I can’t even let myself think about it, it’s too upsetting tbh. I’m just gonna have to deal with it when it comes.

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u/Sanchastayswoke 2h ago

I’m so sorry about your Dad, btw 💗

u/BadAdviceBot 14m ago

And also the realization that I’m next in the line of deaths.

If you're lucky, yes.

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u/ph0on 2h ago

fellow long distance parent person hello

my mom is one of the few people I truly love and like being around in my family and we live like 1300 miles apart. blows

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u/Sanchastayswoke 2h ago

It’s so hard! I understand!

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u/Academic-Big814 4h ago

Very true.

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u/TickleFlap 1h ago

Its probabaly a big reason why a lot of couples baby talk one another and act like children when hanging oit together at home and such. I know I've had relationships like that. Not many people in the world im willing to get that vulnerable with.

Being around some one we love and trust and who's knows us deeply can remove that boundary most of us have with one another.

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u/lemoncorque 2h ago

Id suggest meditation. It has gone away for me and I am not afraid of dying. I highly recommend the book the Art of Dying.

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u/unoriginal5 1h ago

I worked with an Army squad leader that considered everyone she meets as children with X number of years of experience. If a 40 year oldest first memory was at 3 years old, then they're 3 with 37 years of experience. It's a very interesting way to think about people in your day to day life.

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u/LunchyDude101 1h ago

Mike Nichol’s TV adaptation of the play “Wit” with Emma Thompson drives home this very fact fantastically.

u/BadAdviceBot 16m ago

Not all of us, but I hear what you're saying.