Circling the void

I wanted to share some thoughts I’ve been having lately.
For the past few days, I’ve felt a looming sense of death,
a feeling I describe as "circling the void."

To me, the void is a place of total absence.
It is a dark space where you exist only as a ball of energy,
swimming around in a pool;
without memory, identity, or consciousness.

While there is the possibility of being reincarnated into something else
such as a person, a tree, or a star;
you will lose everything that makes you who you are right now.

Most people seek comfort in the idea of a traditional afterlife
often from traditional religions,
but my own near-death experience has led me to think otherwise.

I see death as a true end to the self.
There is no comfort nor hope there;
it is simply the absence of everything.

Because of this, I truly think all we have is the present.
My point is this: that we must make the most of our time
in the here and now.

For better or worse we should try to find happiness,
try to help others,
and experience every emotion fully,
because once this life ends,
we will never experience it in this way again.

That is what circling the void means to me:
the realization that everything we know;
especially of ourselves will eventually end.