Kelley Edwards 
It’s not unusual to fear death. It is the great unknown, after all. It brings the ultimate sadness and enormous loss. But to carry that fear always, obsessively, makes it a phobia. And that phobia has a name: Thanatophobia.
With COVID-19 very much a part of our lives, we have collective feelings of being uncomfortable or out of sorts. This feeling can be attributed to a global grief, and the antidote is being tender with ourselves – and others. Stressed out has become the new normal, and, clearly, it’s not healthy.
Grief can be an isolating experience, but as the world adapts to life in a pandemic, we are forced to redesign how we grieve as communities in isolation. And when a community is unable to physically come together in tragedy, they find ways to be together, apart.
No matter how organized a person, there are still things to be handled after someone dies. Items accumulated in a lifetime have to go somewhere, and family members left behind are given the task of cleaning and clearing out the home of someone they’ve lost.
In 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, nineteen people were executed for practicing the “devil’s work,” or, in other words, being witches. Fourteen were women, five were men. In 2019, at the end of October, also in Salem, Massachusetts, modern day witches celebrate the Festival of the Dead.
Over the years many TV shows have dealt with death. From a family of funeral directors to a man in deep anger in his grief, these series have actually created a conversation about death and dying, sometimes comedic, sometimes touching and sometimes painfully realistic. When You Die team member, Kelley Edwards, picks and shares her favourite binge-worthy series. (Caution, there may be some spoilers ahead.)
This winter, my very close friend lost her mom. She and her siblings were very close to their mother and so the loss of her mother was significant. I knew the feeling of losing a parent. Going through the death of a parent is a difficult process, but I also knew that it wasn’t over.
Deborah Luscomb is one of the facilitators of the Halifax Death Café and leads Death Matters workshops in the area. She acts as an end of life concierge, assisting during the transition and post-mortem experience. Deborah has a passion for bringing people together around difficult conversations, like death and dying.
We want to protect our children, but if we don’t talk to them about death, are we hurting instead of helping?
Your life, your legacy, and how you can help even after you’re gone.
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