Do you practice retreat while you are living? If you’ve been following me for any time now, you’ve seen a couple of videos of me put in the wilderness or some remote location solo, minding my business. Either as a part of my personality or as a part of my self-care as a death doula, its really necessary for me to go inward on occasion.

It is not lost on me that people also often retreat when they are dying as a result of illness. We studied the signs of dying this week in the Going with Grace End of Life Training. A couple of weeks before death, people generally withdraw from the outside world and activities. Some days before death, they begin to withdraw from other people and slow down how often they are speaking. Even when they are speaking, it is clear that they have begun to disengage. Retreat is a part of dying and for people like me, it’s also a part of living. I like to think I am preparing myself for dying this way. What things do you while living that could be preparing you for dying?

As always, thank you for giving me a minute of your life to think about the end of it!

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