For me, the idea that any form of awareness is extinguished upon one's 'death' is absurd. The notion of nothingness simply cannot be.
The universe and existence in general are only 'real' because of the fact we have awareness of it. To the best of our knowledge, awareness requires a 'life-form' to accommodate it. Therefore, without 'life', there is no awareness and hence, no universe. without life, one could say that there is then, 'nothingness'. So, for anything to exist, there must be awareness of it. It seems a paradox but is really so simple.