For what it's worth, I don't think a transition has to be a metaphorical death. I have an old name, but not a dead name. When I transitioned gender, the old me didn't die: I still live, having embraced change. It may not work for everyone, but one can embrace your past as an unbroken line of life.

One of my favourite life songs has the lyric: "You are what you grow into You're not what you were" I like how it emphasizes how radical and total it is to change, become, and be who you were meant to be, but also how all of that can be part of growth, not death.