I spent my formative years growing up in the Philippines. And in the Philippines, you cannot escape the brainwashing that basically tells you that the ONLY way to be happy and have a meaningful life is to have lots of family and lots of friends. That's the consistent message you get bombarded with via the TV, the schools, the church, movie billboards, product ads, etc. 

And if not, you are a loser. Villains in Tagalog shows were portrayed as dying alone a lot of the time. Only their very close family is at their funeral but the protagonists have the entire town at their funeral if they die. 

Therefore it reinforces this belief constantly. During my time during CAT (Citizen's Army Training) and ROTC, we were constantly being brainwashed about the threat of a possible Chinese invasion and to basically not be afraid of them even if they got superior weapons and numbers. 

Meanwhile... Be deathly afraid of dying alone in old age. Does that even make sense?!? 

But later on with some self reflection... I realize that people are afraid to die alone because they put too much of themselves into the external world. They depend on others to make them feel valuable. Most people put too much value into the external world. 

They don't realize that nothing they have in the external will satisfy them forever. There is only so much pleasure one can feel from having money, possessions, relationships, sex, power and control.

Those who fear dying alone are those who depend on others to make them feel valuable. They don't put their own inherent value as a human being above anything else. It is only those who realise that they have inherent value as a human being that can live without needing to feel valuable in the external world. 

People who have realised this won't fear dying alone because they have found happiness through wisdom and the divine (spirituality) as opposed to the temporary pleasures from the material world that ultimately cause pain.

Those who fear dying alone have not found the ultimate source of happiness and self-confidence in the world. There is nothing worse in the world than living a life where your happiness and self-confidence rely on the external world. You will be trapped in misery. 

Those who are confident and happy within themselves don't fear dying alone. Those who are confident and happy within themselves know that they are already complete. They don't seek anything from the external world. Their happiness and self-confidence comes from within.

Then again, just because I realize the THEORY doesn't mean I have fully undone the brainwashing that has been inculcated in me since early childhood. 

It is still a struggle on my part. I realize the ideal I have to achieve but it doesn't mean I have successfully achieved the right mindset yet. Hopefully the day will come when I will completely undo and destroy all the strongholds of toxic ideas and limiting beliefs I have picked up along the way.