Death Becomes You: Top 3 Resources on Estate, Legacy & (Green) Funeral Planning

“I’m not dead yet!”
—from Monty Python and the Holy Grail 

For this week’s article, I took a look back at our top three, fan-favorite articles of the past few months to see what we can learn—about you and what most interests you, about ourselves, and how we can serve you even better. 

Read on for quick recaps of those resources, with links to the full articles. AND, this is what I observed:

WE’RE OBSESSED WITH DEATH. IN A GOOD WAY.

Maybe it was the shared experience of a global pandemic parading our mortality before us. 

Maybe we’re more contemplative these days, due to added time and space from the shut-down and social isolation.

Or maybe it’s just because we’re human. 

I think it’s the third. These topics aren’t morbid; they’re realistic.

Two of our three most popular recent articles are about making arrangements for our inevitable ends: what to do with the stuff we leave behind, including our bodies. 

We all know we should document our final wishes. You know, in advance of our untimely demise.

But most of us put it off—and all too many of us procrastinate until it’s too late. 

Enter the third article, which lays out a proactive approach that can make that planning less charged, and more doable. 

All together, these three articles REMOVE your excuses and justifications, and give you the steps to get started, already. Now. TODAY.

HERE ARE THE RESOURCES

If you’re a new reader of my blog, welcome! Here’s your chance to catch anything you may have missed. If you’re a regular and these are familiar, reread a recent favorite—and actually ACT on the advice this time. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

WHAT LEGACY ARE YOU LEAVING BEHIND?

You don’t have to live at Downton Abbey or be a celebrity to have an estate. Everyone has to plan for the stuff they leave behind.

And believe me, NO legacy is STILL a legacy, leaving our loved ones to make the arrangements for us. 

Don’t be that person. ‍

Enjoy this read and take the next step.

FUTURE-PROOF YOUR HAPPINESS BY MAKING PRODUCTIVITY A PRACTICE

Originally written to help you deal with unwanted surprises like, say, a global pandemic no one saw coming, the tool recommended pairs perfectly with estate planning and final arrangements. 

We can act like we don’t know death is coming. “Surprise-NOT-surprise!” 

Or we can get into the driver’s seat and be present and proactive about our inevitable end and legacy. How you want your things and even your body disposed of at the end is an expression of your values and beliefs—or it should be.‍

Read how here.

WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER A GREEN FUNERAL

Speaking of aligning your final arrangements with your values, this article will not be for everyone, though it could be. (I can already hear my mom’s disapproval.)

But if your environmental impact is important to you now, while you’re still in the body, you may want to consider the carbon footprint when you leave that body behind, especially when it comes to conventional U.S. practices.

Learn more about green funerals here.

SO... WHY DO WE PUT OFF THESE IMPORTANT TASKS?

We’re afraid of death. Duh. 

I say that without a scrap of judgment. Who hasn’t bumped up against this fear? Whether it’s worry over our own passing, or the loss of loved ones, we’ve all felt that knot in our bellies.

The anthropologist, Ernst Becker, argued that everything everyone does—from goal setting, to passions and hobbies, to our daily activities—is a coping strategy in the face of this fear.

I don’t know that I’d say that EVERYTHING is a coping strategy. Admiring a sunset or a piece of art? Loving our favorite people? Reading this article? 

(Okay, maybe reading an article on estate and funeral planning resources IS a coping strategy, if a positive, constructive one.) 

But this I WOULD include high on the list of activities we engage in to subvert our fear of death: 

Our propensity for collecting stuff. In the form of items taking up our space, and tasks and unfinished projects taking up our time. ALL of that takes our attention and focus… away from this underlying anxiety.

Show me your piles of disorganized stuff and lists of unfinished business and I’ll show you someone who is not yet at peace with the inevitable. 

In many ways, this drives everything I’m about. Helping people find peace and fulfillment through an organized life, so they can focus on the important things: people and experiences, NOT stuff.‍

THE BOTTOM LINE

Nobody is excited about making their final arrangements. 

So, we binge-watch Netflix, scroll through social media and buy more than we need… instead of communicating our last wishes and dealing with our stuff. Leaving our loved ones to guess what we wanted, and shoulder that burden for us. 

Guilt-trip, much? I know. But seriously, don’t do that.

And now you have the resources to take the first step: planning your legacy, your green funeral, and how to approach either proactively.

Considering your legacy is no small task. Half the battle is demystifying the process:
This is exactly why we created the Estate Planning Workbook, a step-by-step, comprehensive, and fillable workbook that takes the stress and mystery out of estate planning. Normally a BONUS available only to participants in The Unstuff Your Life System®, you can download your FREE copy here, today.