End-of-Life New Year’s Resolutions You Should Make

According to a study conducted by author John Norcross, about 40% of U.S. adults make New Year’s resolutions, which equates to roughly 92 million Americans. Most of these New Year’s resolutions involve the usual stuff: losing weight and eating better, getting out and exercising, and improving one’s financial health, possibly by finding a better job. By January 31st, however, more than half of resolution-makers have already broken one or more of their self-improvement vows.

Unfortunately, there are four death-related New Year’s resolutions each of us should make — and really keep! While these resolutions rarely show up on the typical list of vows people make, they should because while only 40% of us make New Year’s resolutions, it is certain that 100% of us will die.

Resolution 1: Create an Advance Healthcare Directive

Who would speak for you if a serious accident or illness left you unable to speak for yourself? If a terrible car crash left you incapable of breathing on your own, for instance, would the medical staff treating you know that you would want — or would not want — mechanical ventilation to keep you alive? Would your spouse/partner, children, close friend or anyone else know your desires?

This is merely one example that illustrates why you should create an advance healthcare directive this year — a legally binding document that you prepare ahead of time in order to specify your medical-care preferences if you cannot do so when necessary.

Resolution 2: Become an Organ/Tissue Donor

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), one person joins the organ-transplant waiting list every 10 minutes — an average of 144 people every day. Unfortunately, roughly 22 people on the transplant waiting list die every day because of the lack of available organ transplants.

Donating organs and/or tissue literally provides the gift of life for those in need of a transplant. In fact, according to HHS, one donor can save the lives of eight other people. HHS makes it easy to sign up in your state to become an organ donor, so please don’t let another year pass before you become an organ/tissue donor.

Resolution 3: Discuss Your Funeral and Interment Wishes

Because the thought of our own mortality generally makes us feel uncomfortable, most of us fail to formally preplan our funerals, burials, interments and other final arrangements with a provider. According to the 2010 “Study of American Attitudes Toward Ritualization and Memorialization,” commissioned by the Funeral and Memorialization Information Council (FAMIC), even though 66% of the consumers polled would choose to prearrange their own funeral/interment services, only 25% of respondents had actually done so. Moreover, the latter represents a 9% decrease in personal prearrangements since 1990, the first year FAMIC commissioned this ongoing study.

Given this drop, it follows that most of us also fail to discuss, even casually, our final wishes with family members and loved ones. Not knowing what a deceased loved one wanted for his or her funeral/interment services can add a significant level of stress and grief to that already felt following a death. Therefore, resolve this year to talk to the most significant person in your life — whether a spouse, partner, child, relative or friend — about the type of funeral and interment arrangements you would like held after you die. To help you initiate this conversation, visit the “Have the Talk of a Lifetime” website for more information and resources.

Resolution 4: Express the Unexpressed

Granted, the three preceding death-related vows are challenging, but this final New Year’s resolution might prove the most difficult of all for some of us, even though it should be something we regularly and routinely do in our daily lives. During the year ahead, resolve that you will tell your family members, friends and anyone else significant in your life at least once that you love and appreciate them. Hearing such heartfelt expressions can prove life altering for some and will help make this new year the best ever for them and, possibly, for you, too.

Sources:
“Why do we wimp on New Year’s resolutions?” January 3, 2013. USA Today. Retrieved January 1, 2017. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/01/03/column-why-do-we-wimp-on-new-year-resolutions/1807881

“Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network” homepage. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved January 1, 2017. http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov

“Study of American Attitudes Toward Ritualization and Memorialization April 2010. Funeral and Memorialization Information Council/Harris Interactive. Retrieved January 1, 2017. Author’s collection.