Existential Dread
Dread's register when its object is one's own finitude or the structure of existence itself, rather than a specific upcoming event.
How it shows up
Existential dread can arrive at a birthday, a funeral, in a sleepless hour, or while reading about deep time or the size of the universe. It concerns mortality, freedom, or the bare fact of existing, rather than any specific upcoming event. Some people feel it as a cold drop, others as a background weight. Thinkers have long debated whether it is a burden to manage or an opening toward reflection.
How it differs from Dread
Ordinary dread fears a specific upcoming event; existential dread concerns one's own finitude or the structure of existence itself.
Notice
Notice when thoughts of finitude arrive, and what you were doing or seeing just before.
Where it is felt
Felt most in the chest, stomach and head.
Based on Nummenmaa et al. (2014), bodily maps of emotions, and related research. The map shows where people report bodily sensation, on average; individual experience varies.