Page 103 - Sorry, We're Not Hiring Any Visionaries Today

CHAPTER 12
The third lesson is never to give up. Keep working at it. There’s an endless amount of work to be done in the arena of bringing our culture into comfort with death and dying and speaking about death and dying. We have a culture of fear around that, at least historically. The tide is turning, and this is changing.
Since I published my first work in this genre in 2013, the field of thanatology, which is the study of death and dying, has grown exponentially. Grief and be- reavement support have blossomed. Most recently, I became a facilitator in end-of-life preparation. Before I Go Solutions is a company with a fantastic support system that enables individuals or groups to do their end-of-life plan- ning and preparation. I took this training, and now I volunteer to help other facilitators learn all those things and become advocates for the cause of pre- paring for life’s end.
We’re all trying to do our best to help everyone gain comfort. We coach and encourage people to make plans and to share those plans with the appropriate people in their lives. This could be family, friends, partners or physicians. People must make concrete plans ahead of time, so their loved ones are not left struggling to figure things out after a death. I created a little business to help me coach others to do that.
I certainly want to be known for my role as a bridge. That desire started when I was very young. My experience with my father solidified it.
Several former students have told me that I helped awaken their desire to write. Or they said to me that I validated who they were at a time in their life when they weren’t getting the validation they needed elsewhere. This means a lot to me. I realized that teaching, whether it was in person or through the media, and writing are my strengths. I wanted to have an impact on my world. That was my purpose and my gift.
I have nurtured this, and it has nurtured me. I have so many incredible connections that I would have never known existed before going into this field.
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