Accepting your own mortality is like eating your vegetables: You may not want to do it, but it's good for you. Caitlin Doughty More Quotes by Caitlin Doughty More Quotes From Caitlin Doughty The biggest problem is the funerals that don't exist. People call the funeral home, they pick up the body, they mail the ashes to you, no grief, no happiness, no remembrance, no nothing. That happens more often than it doesn't in the United States. Caitlin Doughty youhomehappinesspeople The death industry markets caskets and embalming under the rubric of helping bodies look 'natural,' but our current death customs are as natural as training majestic creatures like bears and elephants to dance in cute little outfits, or erecting replicas of the Eiffel Tower and Venetian canals in the middle of the harsh American desert. Caitlin Doughty lookdancecutedeath I think about death most of the day, every day. We can't escape death, and choosing to ignore it only makes it more scary. Caitlin Doughty daythinkignoredeath The definition of 'morbid' is an unhealthy preoccupation with death. Unfortunately, there's no word to mean the perfectly healthy preoccupation with death, which is what I have. Caitlin Doughty whichhealthymeandeath Death in its natural state can be very beautiful. When you think about a body that's died of natural causes - family taking care of it - all of that is very beautiful. Caitlin Doughty youfamilybeautifuldeath In America, burial means an embalmed body in a heavy-duty casket with a vault built over it, so that the ground doesn't settle. That body is encased in many layers of denial. Caitlin Doughty groundoverbodyamerica I want a natural burial. Just straight into the ground in a shroud. Caitlin Doughty groundjustnaturalwant Ever since childhood, when I found out that the ultimate fate for all humans was death, sheer terror and morbid curiosity had been fighting for supremacy in my mind. Caitlin Doughty childhoodcuriosityminddeath All the body wants to do biologically is decompose. Once you die, it's, 'Let me out here! I'm ready to shoot my atoms back into the universe!' Caitlin Doughty diemeyouuniverse The home funeral - caring for the dead ourselves - changes our relationship to grieving. If you have been married to someone for 50 years, why would you let someone take them away the moment they die? Caitlin Doughty momentyouhomerelationship For thousands of years, we did have death surrounding us, and we did have people die in the home. You would take care of your own end. You would do ritual processes, and you would be involved in it, and that's been taken away in the Western world. Caitlin Doughty youhomedeathpeople I am a mortician who tells you that you don't necessarily need a mortician. Caitlin Doughty i-amneedwhoyou I've worked very hard to become comfortable with how death works and why it happens. I now know that death isn't out to get me. Caitlin Doughty knowmeharddeath If we ignore our death, we end up just going around completely oblivious to why we do the things we do! Caitlin Doughty endthingsignoredeath Going around not fully believing that you're going to die is really problematic because it affects how you think about the future of the planet, about the future of your own life, about the decisions you're making. Caitlin Doughty dieyoufuturelife One of the things that was most shocking to me about starting to work in the funeral industry is just how industrial the environment is. Caitlin Doughty thingsmeenvironmentwork Writing a memoir is such a private, personal experience that it's intimidating to think of adapting it for television. Caitlin Doughty thinkexperiencewritingtelevision Dying in the sanitary environment of a hospital is a relatively new concept. In the late 19th century, dying at a hospital was reserved for people who had nothing and no one. Given the choice, a person wanted to die at home in their bed, surrounded by friends and family. Caitlin Doughty diefamilyhomepeople I was fascinated by mortality. Most people are, even if they don't admit it. Caitlin Doughty evenadmitmortalitypeople Because we've never encountered a decomposing body, we can only assume they are out to get us. It is no wonder there is a cultural fascination with zombies. Caitlin Doughty usneverbodywonder
