Therapy Thoughts: Death Becomes Us All
How did we become an “I’m sorry for your loss” society?
This is Therapy Thoughts, a new column in Desert Dialogue, the Desert Southwest’s publication for society, culture, and lifestyle discussions. I’m Desert Queen KG, joining forces with M, an AZ licensed therapist, to unpack life’s profound fuckery , I mean challenges— starting with our very first topic: Death.
Society’s Discomfort with Death
It seems whenever we are faced with someone processing a loss, we’re programmed to vomit “I’m sorry for your loss” or “my condolences” and run, just as quickly as we yell “Bless You” to an office npc 100 yards away that maybe sneezed… or was that a cough?
“We get awkward around death. Death is so separate from mainstream society, that we don’t talk about or address it because it's taboo is why we are so dis-integrated as a community and dis-integrated from the natural cycles of each other and the natural cycles of life,” M explains.
Taking turn to reflect on my own life, losing a grandfather and my mother before age 12, early on has oddly equipped me to handle…