A growing number of people are choosing to hold a funeral while they are still alive to attend it. Sometimes called a living funeral, a living wake or a pre-funeral, the gathering brings friends and family together to honour a life with the person at the centre of it — often after a terminal diagnosis, sometimes simply as a deliberate choice. The Washington Post recently described a woman who invited more than a hundred guests to a three-day party of live music, dancing and group meditation. There are no rules: a backyard barbecue counts as much as a formal ceremony.
What stands out is the reframing. The ritual is being moved from after death to before it, turning mourning into something shared in person rather than missed. Surveys suggest the appetite is generational — around half of younger adults say they would want one. As people increasingly want to design their own endings, the goodbye is becoming a moment you host while you can still enjoy it.
So…:
Where could you move a moment your customers value only in hindsight to a point where they can still be there for it?
Source: washingtonpost.com
Picture: Carlos Adampol Galindo / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)