Regardless of belief in an afterlife, you can still expect that some of your life's accomplishments,
such as the help you gave to people you cared about and the labors you have performed, will have
some continuing influence after you have ceased to be. If your pursuit of love and work have found
some success, then you can reasonably hope that your life will have some enduring value even after it
ends. Religions such as Christianity have provided a conceptual and emotional framework for dealing
with death, but a better way to manage fear of nonexistence is simply to strive to ensure that by the
time you die, you will have largely accomplished your goals and abandoned the unreasonable ones.
Consider John Stuart Mill's last words to his stepdaughter: “You know I have done my work.” Mill's
biography shows he was largely done with love and play as well.