What is Death Positivity?

Death positivity asks the question: what if death were not so frightening?

For many of us, the idea of death is truly anxiety-inducing. It goes beyond some childish fear of ghouls and ghosts and hits at the value of life. What does it mean to live a good life? And what will it mean to lose that?

Death positivity does not ignore these fears. Rather, it encourages us to bravely face them. When we react to our anxieties by pushing them down and turning away, we give up the opportunity to grow, to build resilience, and to tackle head on those little What Ifs that might result in something beautiful.

As with all things, tackling our fears, our anxieties and our shame is easier and more productive in community. At its core, death positivity is about creating space within our communities for the full breadth of experience.

Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dani Gurrie of Everything Frederick about just this topic. You can find the segment here, and the full episode here!