Why am I me?

[Existentialist]

when I die it'll seem to me as if the world ends; MY world will end. How can I explain this... When you sleep without dreaming everything is nonremembered, and seems 'black'. If death is the same, then it'll be lights out for eternity, and therefore I'm wondering why I'm conscious to begin with. Why me? Why here? Why now? Why at all? etc.

Any answers or ideas? I've asked my friends and family, but they don't really grasp the concept of the question.

It's problematic to compare death to sleeping without dreaming. In sleep our brains continue to function. In death we don't actually have a functioning brain. We can observe others who are not functioning, but we can never experience ourselves not functioning. There is therefore no such thing as subjective death, either before or after our spell of living. And since our death viewed by another person isn't our experience, we can have no awareness of what it is like to be dead, infact wondering it is pointless. It certainly can't be compared to black or lights out - these are relative concepts, and in death we have no comparators.

Therefore, I wouldn't worry about it. The only thing we can experience is life. Death has no meaning for us. Obviously it's different if someone else dies (we get upset). But we can't put ourselves in their shoes, because to put yourself in another's shoes, you have to have some experience that is comparable to what they are experiencing.

Life, and everything in it, is the only experience I will ever have. The experience of one's own death doesn't exist. This is a good basis for optimism.

Obviously at some point we will all experience a crisis of the viability of our bodies. That could be quite distressing, I'd hope to have access to some calming drugs by that stage, infact I think I'd rather not be aware of it. But to be apprehensive about what will happen after that crisis is over and our bodies are no longer viable isn't logical. Rethinking that bit is a good way of preparing for this final crisis.