"God save me rejection from my reflection, I want perfection"- a discussion on the topic of ageing & dying

This particular stanza from Robbie William's song Bodies summarizes what we learned this week in Human Biology with particular regards to ageing and dying.
"All we've ever wanted is to look good naked.
Hope that someone can take it
God save me rejection from my reflection
I want perfection"
There were a few points that I found particularly interesting:
- the medicalisation of death and how deaths in the past occurred at home while deaths occuring today usually occurs in the hospital setting
- Death was viewed as the natural outcome of life compared to today's view that death is the enemy (since medicine is about healing others and death is something we want to avoid at all cost)
- One of people's biggest fear when dying is that of abandonment and this is followed by the pain involved with dying. This is particularly important to note since as a future physician, I would have to deal with a dying patient/ breaking the news to patients of a fatal diagnosis. Knowing these 2 biggest fears people have of dying, I could make their dying process as smooth as possible by simply stating to the patient that you will make their passing as pain free as possible and that you will be there with them until the end (by their side). It's little things like these that I believe are very important to become not just a compassionate doctor, but also an empathetic individual
- People are usually more mentally unprepared for death than they are physically, but this one AIDS-stricken lady (in the video we watched today) was the opposite as she was mentally prepared for death but not physically dying yet
- A part of preparing for dying is to physically letting go, and when one does this, one develops a sense of calm and the body eventually slowly shuts down. I find this fascinating, particularly how does one start physically letting go? What kinds of things do they do when they start physically letting go? Is this sense of calm chemically-elicited or is it a spiritual feeling that cannot be explained by science?
- Children have less fear of death because they live in the here and now- In the video, this child that had AIDS and who wasn't told about his/her condition reassured this lady that he/she knows that he/she has AIDs and that he/she will take care of this lady and that everything will be alright. I think this is particularly interesting because a lot of people would live very differently if they were to live in the here and now like children do. (I'd like to call these things "lessons from children" that we should all take away as adults to live more meaningful lives)
- An individual interviewed in the video says that we are undermedicated when it comes to pain management. This has sparked my interest in issues around pain management and the differing levels of pain people do feel. Would fears surrounding death be diminished when we manage pain more effectively or will there be other fears that develop surrounding death?

And for all of these reasons, I believe that self-reflection is very important. I found that I'm starting to deeply engage in my experiences (that will be recorded in my brain's association areas by the way) and I find myself being more in the present moment rather than dwell in the past/ look too far forward in the future. I'm starting to see personally how living in the here and now is the key to happiness because when you start doing this, you begin to stop worrying too much. After all, despite all the knowledge we have with regards to the human body in medicine and society's preoccupation with staying youthful & diminish the effects on ageing, we don't know when each of us will keel over and die. Also, will it matter how we look like when that time comes? Will it matter how much money we each have when that time comes? I think what will matter at that point in time will be the human connections that you've made and the happiness you've shared with others to make their lives more meaningful and to enable their dreams through support (as Randy Pausch would say). I might as well enjoy this ride while I still have the chance to.