We are all going to die, there is no way around this. It’s my personal mission to normalize conversations around death. Yes, it’s weird. Yes, it’s uncomfortable. But why is that? Because there is so much stigma around it. “If I talk about death, I might die” is a fear many people have. “I have time to figure it out, I’m young” is a common misconception. People die of all ages, even babies die. Some people just stick their heads in the sand, hoping it will all just work itself out. When has that approach ever helped anybody in a meaningful way? Never.
Why is talking about death freely important?
When we talk about things and normalize them, they have less control over us, and as a result, they cause less fear, stress and anxiety.
When we talk about death it demystifies it, helping us to see it as a normal course of life, albeit the part few of us are excited about experiencing. This doesn’t mean we are excited about death; we are simply giving it the appropriate amount of power and energy.
When we talk about death freely it gives others the freedom and courage to talk about it too. Then we have support around death because two people are discussing it rather than two people playing out their fears in their heads while talking to each other about less meaningful topics.
Most importantly, when we talk about death, we have the opportunity to prepare for it, leaving our loved ones in a better place when we go. If we don’t talk about it, don’t get organized and plan for the eventual event, then a heavy burden is placed on our families, who will be tasked with figuring out what our wishes and desires were, without our help. This is no small task. They might have to dig through boxes or filing cabinets full of documents, and they might be forced to rifle through our computer, phone, email and mail to get to the bottom of things. They’ll be exhausted and overwhelmed, and on top of that, they will be sad because they just lost you and they miss you. But, now they are mad at you because you made them work really hard on something that could have easily been avoided.
Think of it like this, imagine being in the kitchen baking pies and cookies all day, flour and sugar everywhere, dishes piled up, pies in the oven, pans of cookies on cookie sheets, and suddenly you must leave for a week on a business trip. Would you leave the kitchen in its current state, or would you finish baking the pies, turn the oven off and clean the kitchen before going? It’s a lot like that, but a whole lot more work.
So, let’s talk about death openly. Let’s plan for death. Let prepare for death. And then, let’s live lighter, knowing everything is taken care of. What do you say? Let’s sit down and talk about it.
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