What working in a funeral home taught me about life..

Working in a funeral home taught me many things, the most important being not to fear death.

You see the whole death thing is really freaky, and really gross, but what we don’t understand is that it’s actually really beautiful…

As a society we are very close minded individuals, we are all guilty of this, myself included, we hear what we want, and shelter ourselves from what we don’t. We hide from things we fear, death being one of the most feared parts of life. But it’s simply that, a part of life.

I feel as if I must add a disclaimer to all of this before I go any further and with that being said, working in a funeral home doesn’t just mean you work with the dead, but also with the living too.. The families who have lost their child, parent, grandparent, and so on. So out of respect for those families I can’t go into grave detail about all I’ve experienced but what I can say is an experience it was.

I have seen elderly and young, and newborn pass.. And it had taken a tremendous toll on me.

But the truth is?

I wouldn’t have passed up that experience for any other..

We often don’t consider what happens when you die, unless you’re a weirdo like me who is fascinated by those things..

But here’s just some of what I learned..

• Death is really, really, gross.. I mean seriously, it takes a very strong person to do what funeral directors do, mentally, and physically. The process we must undergo to make sure your loved ones look peaceful and how you remembered them before they departed is not an easy one.
• Elderly people are not the only ones who pass away. I think going into a funeral home you have the misconception that it will be mostly older people and that their time has come to pass.. This is sadly nothing more than a misconception.
• Life is short, like really short.
• There are babies that don’t get to live their lives at all, so this is why given the opportunity you should live your life to its full potential.
• Really, do it because to do anything less when there are innocent human beings whose lives haven’t begun yet but have come to an end, you’re selfish to do anything less.
• Death is miraculously beautiful.
• No matter how someone passes, having the opportunity to work in a funeral home gives you the opportunity to make that person look peaceful, happy, and ready to depart from their physical body.
• If you have the chance to work in this field, please don’t let horror stories and your fear overcome your opportunity.
• You get to make someone look alive again, you see someone at their worst so that their family does not have to, and if that’s not an amazing feeling, I don’t know what is.
• Life is short, and death is quick..
• Don’t take all of the time you have for granted because you never know how much time you have left.
• Death is beautiful.

And lastly a quote from my favorite soul,

“It’s strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over.” -Jim Morrison