Terror management theory (TMT) places death anxiety in an explanatory role in cognition, affect, and behavior, spanning mental health to cultural trends. We aimed to connect TMT to trait death anxiety, and propose an additional component: "life acknowledgement" (life awareness, lived experience connection, liveliness engagement) which yields "vitality salience" when conscious. Participants (n = 156) were randomized to mortality, neutral, or vitality salience conditions, and completed assessments of self-esteem, generalized anxiety, and death anxiety (death and dying separately). Results indicated that death anxiety was independent of demographic factors; that death anxiety was correlated with generalized anxiety (r = 0.18 and r = 0.32) and self-esteem (r = -0.35 and r = -0.38); and that salience groups did not differ on the outcome measures. We concluded that existential salience priming operates separately from trait self-report. Findings supported trends in current literature, and prompted further questions regarding TMT and vitality salience.