If you know the end is coming, do you give up or push past your limits and try to do more than you thought you could?

1. What the question is really asking: survival signal or existential verdict?

The user’s query is both pragmatic (“what should I do right now?”) and philosophical (“what does it mean to keep going when the end is near?”), and it matters whether “the end” is a medical emergency, a personal loss, or an abstract dread; medical and mental‑health reporting treats a sense of impending doom as a symptom that can signal true physiological danger—heart attack, pulmonary embolism, anaphylaxis, pheochromocytoma—or a psychological state like panic, PTSD, OCD, or generalized anxiety ^{[5] [2] [6]}.

2. The body’s loudspeaker: when giving up could save you

Biology sometimes mandates surrender: clinicians report that a sudden, intense sense of doom can precede or accompany life‑threatening events such as heart attacks, pulmonary emboli, severe allergic reactions, or intraoperative awareness, and when those causes are plausible the correct response is immediate medical evaluation rather than striving through the moment ^{[5] [2] [6]}.

3. The false alarm problem: why ‘giving up’ usually harms in non‑medical crises

When the signal is generated by anxiety, trauma, or chronic stress rather than acute physiology, surrendering to avoidance or withdrawal tends to worsen functioning over time; mental‑health sources emphasize that impending doom often amplifies worst‑case thinking and physical symptoms, and that long‑term avoidance links to depression and reduced well‑being ^{[4] [1] [6]}.

4. Why pushing past limits can be the adaptive choice—and when it backfires

Pushing past perceived limits can be heroic and growth‑oriented when the threat is internal (panic, dread) or when goals are worth the cost; therapeutic modalities such as CBT and exposure therapy are designed to help people tolerate distress and act despite fear, effectively “pushing past” the doom signal to restore functioning ^{[3] [7]}. However, if the sensation masks a genuine medical emergency or is driven by overwhelming trauma without support, forcing forward without assessment or help can be dangerous or retraumatizing ^{[2] [6]}.

5. A practical decision framework: rule out danger, assess values, use tools

First, prioritize safety—seek immediate care when physical causes are plausible (shortness of breath, chest pain, sudden collapse) because medical causes are documented and potentially life‑threatening ^{[2] [5]}. If medical causes are ruled out, determine whether the doom is an episodic anxiety signal or a persistent pattern; evidence‑based treatments (CBT, grounding, acceptance approaches) and social connection reduce isolation and enable action rather than capitulation, so use those tools to push constructively when goals matter ^{[3] [8] [4]}.

6. Conclusion: neither surrender nor relentless pushing is universally right

The balanced answer is conditional: when the end could be literal and imminent, give up effort in the short term and get emergency help—biology can be prescient ^{[5] [2]}; when the end is a psychological dread or a controllable crisis, pushing past limits with supports and evidence‑based strategies is usually healthier than giving up, because avoidance entrenches dysfunction while targeted effort—guided by therapy or practical planning—restores agency ^{[3] [6]}. Reporting reviewed here comes from mental‑health and medical outlets that rightly emphasize both danger signals and treatable psychological causes; readers should note those sources may implicitly promote therapy and medical evaluation as primary solutions ^{[3] [4]}.