GUEST BLOGGER: Death Café

Happy new year. It can be a tricky time can’t it… Christmas, followed by a dreary January, and the looming bleakness of February. Meanwhile, we try to re-ignite the engines that fuel our lives, get back to work, and once again embrace inevitable responsibilities. My recommended new year’s resolution might seem rather odd in light of this introduction, but nevertheless I think a visit to a Death Café  is just the ticket to break us out of the monotonous pattern we follow at the beginning of each year. Death Café exists to provide a safe and comfortable space for people to talk openly about death. People meet all over the world, in cafes, in people’s homes, to chat over coffee and cake about our mortality. Its success is clear proof of a shared longing in humanity to put an end to death denial. Personally speaking, having carved out a path in life which involves death talk every day, including helping run a similar death chat group at St Christopher’s Hospice  I can say with certainty that it is a deeply enriching experience and enables you to truly make the most of your finite life. Now, surely that’s the way to start a new year. To read Annie's previous blogpost, click here.