How Has Death Impacted My Life

According to Irvin Yalom, “Death acts as a catalyst that can move one from one state of being to a higher one. An awareness of death shifts one away from trivial preoccupations and provides life with depth and poignancy and an entirely different perspective” (Yalom, 1980, p. 160). Existentialists do not view death in a negative aspect but assert that awareness of death is a basic human condition which gives significance to living. Death challenges our assumptions about the world. If one is to reconstruct their world and survive after the loss of a loved one, one must re-examine both how one perceives the world and how one functions within that new world. It is from this new perspective that one’s journey of personal growth emerges. Personally, I have experienced the loss of

The most vital lesson that I learned from these significant losses is that death can be a mechanism for change – one’s life nor oneself will ever be the same. Death has been permanently woven into the fabric of who I am and has changed me in ways that I never anticipated. In the earlier stages of my grief process, I feared that death would forever alter my being in solely a negative capacity. I often struggled with the notion that anything positive could come from such inconceivable losses. I never imagined that death would elicit positive transformations within myself and bring about a greater appreciation for life. Death illuminated the realization of how fleeting life can be and increased my awareness of the trajectory of my own life. It required that I re-evaluate my priorities, values, and relationships in my life. It allowed for an increased appreciation for the time I had spent with my loved ones instead of merely mourning the loss of a future with them. My spirituality deepened as I searched for answers and