Take Death Preparation Seriously, Before It's Too Late

YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH REALITY.  TAKE IT SEROUSLY.

Planning ahead for our inevitable passing is the best thing that we can do for our loved ones

 We've just had a death in the family.  An older relative, not in perfect health, but not in any obvious danger.  We expected to have many more happy visits in the years to come.  We won’t.

Plan for reality.

We must take death seriously.  This does not require being grim, it doesn’t require a preoccupation with doom.  It requires an awareness of the two things that we all know: (1) each person’s time will come, and (2) we have no idea when that will be.

It requires being practical.  Do you do your laundry?  Do you empty the litter box?  Many tasks are unpleasant but necessary.  Some are more important than others.  Do not let the importance of the task paralyze you.

Better sooner than later.

The sooner you put your affairs in order, the sooner you can put them out of your mind.  Address the risks, assess the options.  When you go, people will grieve – you can save them from further grief and trouble by putting things in order now.  Let them focus on you when the time comes, not on banks and bills and bickering.

Taking death seriously also means that we never know how much time we will have with our loved ones.  We must not miss occasions to see each other and be good to each other.  Our lives are finite; our lives with our loved ones are even more finite.  We must take them seriously and never take them for granted.