Help Probably a silly question

[Sucsarius]

Do you see a difference between saying "I don't want to live" and "I want to die"?

I might be overthinking it. Who knows.

 

[LittleSunshine]

Saying "I don't want to live" often reflects feeling exhausted, empty, or hopeless, or feeling unable to bear a current situation or emotional pain. It usually means wanting the hurt to stop rather than wanting life to end. It can express a desire for relief or escape, not death itself. People who say this often wish for their life to change, not to disappear.

Saying "I want to die" typically conveys a more direct belief that death is the only solution, along with a sense that no alternatives or improvements are possible. It can indicate more active thoughts about ending one's life.

 

[The_Sadness_of_Life]

I feel both.

 

[fromange]

I'd like to stay asleep for a long time. Or just reincarnate without the pain of death.

 

[Forever Sleep]

It's not a silly question at all. I think- maybe to expand on it though- is it more like: 'I don't want to live... like this'? I think for some people, they can actually envisage a better life. They just feel that it's out of reach though. Others of course may insist they'd hate any life.

But ultimately, I imagine it could actually be the minority who actually want to experience physical death. It's not generally described as a pleasant experience. I imagine most people here do actually want to be dead but- they may well not want to experience dying to get there!

So sure- it makes sense to me to be saying: 'I don't want to be alive- I want to be dead. But, I don't want to have to die in order to achieve that.'

I think the question highlights the difference between passive ideation- longing for the idea of death and, active ideation- actively planning and preparing a method. Trying to come to terms with what we will need to do to ourselves to die.

 

[FrustratedGirl]

I think that there's also "I want to be dead".

1. "I don't want to live" is for me the perspective to look at your life and seeing it's shit. Probably with the knowledge that it can't be better/changed.

2. "I want to die" is for me the planning, pleasant anticipation, and/or waiting for the moment you can kill yourself (or maybe die to something else).

3. "I want to be dead" is for me the knowledge that death is better than this life. It's like the solution to 1. It's also a bit more like a dream, whereas 2 is a bit more concrete and realistic.

In my experience/understanding it's often that someone first thinks 1 (the realisation), then 3 (the dream) and then 2 (the plan).

 

[FadingSnowFake]

I don't want to live = life sucks.
I want to die = life sucks + this is too much for me now + I don't want to live anymore.