At the End of the Day Newsletter
Lis Whybrow
A Life Coach for everything life, death and all the messy bits in between. Whether you’re dying, suffering loss or grief, by working together we'll identify what's important to you to live life fully until you die
Tell me mum, what can I do or say?
Last summer my twenty-something daughter rang me and asked me what to do: the mother of one of her friends had died and she didn’t know what to do or say.
Not surprising really, few people that age have experienced the death of someone close to them. In fact, many of us haven’t yet experienced the raw and agonising roller coaster of grief that the death of a loved-one can cause.
Even if we’ve experienced it, we still may not be able to talk about it with others as we aren’t encouraged to do so. All of us can learn to be better companions to others on that journey of grief; whether it’s a family member, friend, neighbour, or colleague.
I realised in that moment, even my own daughter, who’s heard me talking openly about death and dying for most of her life, was flummoxed. Although I’m always banging on about the importance of having good conversations around death and supporting those who’ve been bereaved, she had absolutely no idea where to start.
Except she asked me - so maybe she did after all!
The more I talk with people about the subject of death and dying, the more I realise how inadequately prepared most of us are. Not only for our own death, but for the death of people around us.
I’m not saying we should be constantly talking about it. I’m saying we can all learn to have these empathic and supportive interactions with those who are going through a really difficult time.
We may need courage as we learn not to shy away from it. It does get easier as we try – although it’s never easy.
My business was conceived to address some of these topics, and I’m taking the plunge now to launch my monthly newsletter, “At the End of the Day”.
I hope to address some of the areas where I think we can all learn more about a subject that possibly remains the final taboo.
My next edition will be exploring how we can support those going through grief and why we so often shy away from those difficult interactions.
Let’s get over our fear of doing the wrong thing and do something! Look out for “At the End of the Day – Issue 2” coming soon.
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1 年That’s a great article Lis, thank you. I’ll check out your website.
Co-Founder
1 年Thank you for sharing this lis. Really powerful. I feel that to often, we walk alone in grief, because it seems a taboo subject, that we rarely talk about. Yet the most natural and inevitable event in our lives. Great to know there is support out there. ????