Understanding Preplanning Your Cremation

If you’re thinking about preplanning a cremation in Tallahassee, FL, you may be putting it off because you have ideas about doing it that don’t square with the reality of doing it. You are not alone. Many people put off cremation and funeral preplanning because they don’t understand how beneficial it is, not only for them, but also for their families.

One idea that you may have that is holding you back from preplanning your cremation is that it will be better if you let your loved ones take care of it when you die. The reason you may believe this is because you may think that letting your family take care of planning your cremation will let them be able to do it the way they want to.

The reality is that planning a cremation after you die is one more burden that your family will have to add to the stress and grief they have because of your death and the void that has created in their lives.

They will plan the cremation, not on the basis of what they want, but on the basis of what they think you may have wanted. Without any indication from you of what those things would be, they will work harder and longer to try to guess to get it right for you.

When you preplan your cremation – and discuss it with your loved ones, as well as providing the funeral home and each of them with detailed instructions – you relieve them of an incredible amount of extra stress that you wouldn’t want them to have and that they shouldn’t have to go through.

You may also be putting off preplanning your cremation because you just can’t seem to find the time to sit down and do it. You know you need to create a folder with contact information, important papers, and detailed instructions on the cremation, the service, and what you would like done with your cremation remains. You know you need to talk with the funeral home and get everything on file with them.

But that takes time and it seems to be, right now, more time than you have. But consider this. If you believe that this is going to take a you a lot of time to do – and you probably have a pretty clear idea of what you want already and simply need to gather paperwork and write things down – think how much time it’s going to take your family to do.

In fact, they won’t have the luxury of time like you do right now. They will need to make decisions quickly. They will feel rushed. And, they may, somewhere down the road, experience guilt or regret that they did or didn’t something because they forgot about it.

You can spare your loved ones that kind of pressure and the emotional baggage they may have to deal with long after you’re gone by taking the time now to preplan your cremation.

A final reason that you may be dragging your feet on preplanning your cremation is because you think your family won’t like some of the decisions you make about your cremation, about the service, and about what you want done with your cremation remains.

It’s your cremation. Do what you want. After you’ve preplanned it in detail and talked with the funeral home, then sit down with your family and go through all the details with them. Give them an opportunity to understand where you’re coming from, to voice their opinions (with explanations of why you chose what you did), and to come away from the discussion on the same page.

For more information about preplanning a cremation in Tallahassee, FL, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you.