What are you afraid of?

So often our fears around the unknown overwhelm us. Information can be a good antidote.

A dear client asked me recently if I had read Dr. Sherwin Nuland’s book, “How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter.” I had not and picked it up later that day.

Dr. Nuland, a surgeon for his entire professional life, wrote the book to demystify what scares most of us: death. He had witnessed thousands over his career. He thought it crucial to address the inaccurate, but common belief that we are somehow flawed if we don’t have a “good death.”

“Since human beings first began to write, they have recorded their wish for an idealized ending some call the ‘good death,'” Nuland writes, “as if any of us can ever be sure of it or have any reason to expect it. There are pitfalls of decision-making to be sidestepped and varieties of hope to seek, but beyond that we must forgive ourselves when we cannot achieve some preconceived image of dying right.”

To read the rest of the article, go to: https://www.wral.com/what-are-you-afraid-of-/17571361/



Article and images are provided by WRAL. To view this and other articles written for WRAL, visit: http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/agingwell/

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