Life is a cycle. We are born, we live and we die. Though some of us don’t want to think about dying because we have “so much longer,” I always remind people that life can change in an instant. So the question that lies now is, what kind of funeral do you want to have?

One of my favorite YouTubers, Caitlin Doughty, is a mortician and death theorist, and has been closer to death than most people have. She hosts the YouTube series "Ask A Mortician", where she answers questions people have about death and the death industry. She debunks myths about the dead that people have been too afraid to answer. She also puts out there her own views on death. She has traveled all across the nation giving talks on death culture, runs her website, The Order of the Good Death, and owns the funeral home Undertaking LA, an alternative funeral home. She has had the biggest influence on me when it comes to my views on death, which is why I want to become a funeral director. Another big influence is Caleb Wilde and his website, Confessions of a Funeral Director, where he writes on his experiences in the family business.

I have had an interest in becoming a funeral director for most of my high school career. Though some may say it’s rather macabre to work around death, I believe it comes down to two things: helping the dead and the living.

A funeral director can do a variety of things, preparing the funeral’s location for the service, file the appropriate paperwork and retrieve death certificates, and provide transportation to the family and the deceased. In many cases, they may fill the double role of embalmer as well. Embalming is the process of temporarily preserving a body by replacing the blood with a mix of formaldehyde, dye and water. In most cases, people are embalmed and then buried or cremated.

People always ask me, “you want to work around dead people?” and I, of course, answer “yes.” For me, helping the dead look as they were living and helping the family create a lasting picture of their loved one is what has driven me to go into the industry.

Though the world tries to avoid all things death, I think we should all be well-informed of our mortality. What happens when we die? What are my options when I die? How can I make sure my wishes are respected as well as my family’s? These are all great questions and things that people should know about. There are endless options when it comes to death, as odd as that sounds. Why not explore those options now? Do you want to be cremated? Do you want to be buried? Do you want your ashes put into a biodegradable urn and then have a tree flourish from your remains? It’s all up to you, after all.

Quite frankly, I wouldn’t want my funeral to be a sad, desolate event. I’d rather have my funeral be a celebration of my life, and though I had just died, I want everyone to have a good time because in the end, life will go on, with or without you.