A Little Blurb About Creating My Own Death Plan

I created my first death plan (advanced directive) when I was in my early thirties.  I decided to do it at that time because I had been asking my parents to do theirs for several years, which they did not do until at least a decade later.  I figured if I was asking them to do something that I felt was so important, that I should do my own.  As a person who was not, is not, and never intends to be legally married, this process was an opportunity to be very intentional about who I asked to make decisions on my behalf when I am unable to to so for myself.  I asked the two people who I considered (then and now) to be my people.  The people who I trust most with my life and with my death.  People who know me, trust me, respect me and my way of being in the world.  They offered me the blessing of sitting down with me to talk through the details.  They listened and asked questions, and both heartfully agreed.

In addition to the profound experience in selecting the people, I learned a lot by thinking of what I value in life and what I want in my dying days, in death, and after I am dead.  I continue to explore this in my daily living, and the journey just gets more and more interesting.  This process is not a one and done activity.  I continue to think about, talk about, and revisit my death plan, while also remaining detached from what may or may not actually happen.  Living fully in the present is a one breath at a time adventure.  Dying consciously begins over and over again with each of those same breaths, and does not end until the last of them.  And even then…. who knows?