Year after year, research is carried out to see if our attitudes and behaviour around death change. Despite the TV shows, TikTok videos and death café culture, we’re still a bit shy when it comes to talking about death and dying.
Here’s why it’s important that we ditch the awkwardness and how we can make this an easier conversation to have. Since this week is Hospice UK’s Dying Matters Awareness Week, it’s an appropriate time to start this discussion.
Let’s assume something happened unexpectedly. What would your family and friends choose for you?
Funeral planning decisions
- Burial, cremation or, in Scotland, at some point in the future, hydrolysis?
- In a wood coffin or something made from wicker, bamboo or cardboard?
- Would you have wanted a service where people pay their respects, or just a simple celebration on a different day/place?
- If you want a service, what music should be chosen? It’s important to know what tunes to play or sing along to when you arrive for the last time.
- Would you have wanted particular flowers, a theme, or a dress code to respect?
- What photos or tributes should your family choose to reflect your life, and who do you trust to get that right?
- Do you want a celebration after or nothing at all?
- Finally, who’s responsible for paying for your funeral?
Imagine your loved ones having to make these choices with little to no steer about what you’d have liked. Even if it doesn’t matter to you, the responsibility on those left behind can be immense. They want to honour you, pay their respects by getting everything “just right” as you would have wanted.
Sharing your wishes
Help them by sharing your wishes and leaving a clue so they can focus on saying goodbye.
- Use our funeral planning checklist to trigger the questions and record some early thoughts or clear instructions – free tool here
- We’ll prepare a free plan of Wishes for you you to keep with your papers or share with family/friends/executors to use at a future date (and you can change these as often as you need as life’s circumstances change) – make an appointment here or go online to here
- Speak to us about prepaid funeral plans, which can be as little as £50 a month, that fix professional costs at today’s prices, no matter how much they rise by the time you need funeral help.
It costs nothing to have a conversation. Let’s find the time to talk.
You can contact us here at any time to speak to one of our team —free of charge— who can guide you in starting a difficult conversation.