It’s the thing we don’t talk about, it feels a little icky and uncivilised, right? That is until it happens to someone we love and the shock we feel is overwhelming.
We have to brush over the idea of death as it appears if we are being negative, morbid and generally a little morose. It brings up the idea of pain, its the way I feel about when someone talks to me about childbirth, it makes my eyes blink a little bit faster as I think about the pain.
But thats all we have to be sure about, birth and death. There is no other guarantees in life, not marriage, or children, not a house or job. All those bits in between are in our control. The decisions we make that take us on the journey that runs in between those two only certainties, birth and death.
The end of anything is always a challenging topic, people don't know how to respond when they haven't been through something similar and as none of us have been through death ourselves it is challenging to relate.
I talk about death but in a very unique way. I talk about how I want to be remembered, how do I want someone to talk about me at my funeral, to think about me after I have gone. How did I improve their life, what love, care and kindness did I leave behind.
By thinking about the end it has helped me live a better life. In fact the best life I could live. Today if I was told I had no more time, it would be ok because I know I did my best by people.
So I challenge you to think about how you would want to be talked about after you live, write it down, the qualities you would want people to see in you, the actions that the vicar would say you had done. Then start doing all of those things.
Go live your best life.