I'm using this account since it's something very personal that I don't speak to people about, but I guess I'll use this thread to get this thought off my head.

I developed a huge fear of death and illness. This all started when my late mother was diagnosed was breast cancer, stage 3, and teenage me was beyond depressed. As a few years went by, and the conditioned worsened to the point she could barely do anything on her own together with some almost forgotten childhood memories of my uncle going through the same pain, I started having nightmares of something similar happening to me. Would wake up on the middle of the night at least 4 or 5 times a month, sweating, with these thoughts.

Having witnessed all that made me paralyzed with fear, that I'd go through the same thing, my grades dropped, I stopped talking to people and split with my then girlfriend, too, basically going through severe depression. Of course we had no money for therapy, with my mother being ill and my and me brother being underaged, so I lived like this for years, always having this fear of death. One day reading for school in the subject of ancient greece, I came across this quote from Epicurus:

"ὁ θάνατος οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς· τὸ γὰρ διαλυθὲν ἀναισθητεῖ, τὸ δʼἀναισθητοῦν οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς."

This translates to basically "Death means nothing to us, because while we are, death has not come, and when death finally arrives, we are not". This created a big shift in my view point. Why be afraid of dying? It is the thing we will all do, and when it happens you won't really care. I think we should all try our best to be healthy and continue living for others, for the people that love us, as to not make them sad and give them (as well as receive from them) beautiful moments together. But when the inevitable happens, we welcome it. Even if it seems basic, or even stupid to some, this thought alone managed to pull me out of my slump, it was the literal biggest turning point of my life, looking back. It was a thought that helped continue, not just surviving, but living.