This article originally appeared and was published on AOL.com
Life does not always go as planned. Some people have untimely endings; others narrowly escape them. One Reddit thread asked those who have experienced the latter what they felt when they were dying; the answers are pretty illuminating.
This person remembers feeling like “an old television,” slowly fading out. They were also heartbroken at the thought of never seeing their financé again:
“I went into septic shock and organ failure last year. I only remember being wheeled into the ER and then waking up the next day. It was like going to sleep but it feels like you’ve been fighting sleep for weeks (I found dying [exhausting] weirdly enough). “
You might think the concept of seeing “the white light” a cliché, but this tale says otherwise:
“I had no feelings of euphoria, just blackness. I could feel myself dying. I always tell people that my vision was like one of the old fashioned tvs with tubes, so that when you turn it off it just kind of shrinks until the image disappears. I also remember breathing being something that I had to make myself do, no more autopilot until I couldn’t anymore. I was also profoundly sad in that moment because I felt that I would be missing so much, also that I would never see my fiance’s face ever again.”
Others, however, remember nothing:
“First year living in Japan, I was out drinking with my college aged students. And drinking a lot. I’ve never liked fish, due to growing up with southern parents who would fry it, and the smell alone made my friends and I leave the house for hours. But I was in Japan! When in Rome, y’know!? Sashimi didn’t smell so bad. So I drunkenly started popping them in my mouth like I was eating popcorn. Hated the taste! But I’m drunk! And in Japan!”
“Do you like it?! ” I was asked, “Yes! ” I lied in return. More was ordered. Sashimi. Beer. Whiskey. Sours.”
“I got really hot, and kept unbuttoning my shirt. Until I hit the point I realized I had thrown it off and was just in a white T-shirt. But why was my neck so tight?”
“Panic hits me, and I just lie with my head back trying to focus on something besides my predicament. No go. The lights I’m looking at suck into my eyes and my memory from here on is gone…”
“Wake up in a hospital. Throat is in intense pain. I’m drunk. Surrounded by Japanese doctor staff, and only one female student stayed with me. She comes and says to me in English, tears in her eyes, hugging me, “You died sensei! You actually died!!” Apparently my throat swole up, I stopped breathing and at some point I was dead for what I heard was only 18 seconds or so.”
“The doctor eventually musters up strength to eek out, “You. Uhhhh. Fish. Uhhhhh… Allergy. “
“Now I know I’m allergic to fish. Still in Japan!”
As life is different for everyone, it makes sense that all these “near-death” experiences are different as well. Whether we’ll ever witness something so scary, we don’t know, but these responses certainly make us think.
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