Transcript
Speaker: Hello there and welcome to the Glam Reaper podcast.
Speaker: I'm your host Jennifer Muldani aka the Glam Reaper.
Speaker: On this podcast we talk love life and loss.
Speaker: We laugh, we'll cry and we'll celebrate your stories.
Speaker: You are unique, there is no one like you and there will be no one like you ever.
Speaker: So get in touch and share with us your story.
Speaker: I introduced you as the fabulous Dana Humphreys.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Well, Jennifer, thank you so much for having me on your show.
Speaker: Such a blessing to have known you after all these years through the pet PR side of things to what's new and what's happening now.
Speaker: And I can't wait to dive in and talk to you all about it.
Speaker: So tell us, Dana, you went from pet PR to death doula.
Speaker: So a lot of people have heard of a birth doula.
Speaker: That's kind of something that's become more common over the years.
Speaker: And it's funny, actually, my younger sister is a birth doula.
Speaker: She's also a midwife and a doctor, but she also is a birth doula.
Speaker: And that process is really just helping people enter the world, helping the mom with breath and with presence.
Speaker: And so a death doula is really adding ritual back into death.
Speaker: As you know, a lot of people have a lot of fear around and there's like a lot of unknowns.
Speaker: And a death doula is really just someone that has excellent bedside manner, has presence, and is able to be on the journey with the dying person and with their families to have it be less scary, help them have some of those difficult conversations they need to have with their loved ones so that they can transition easier, quicker, and feel in a good place about it.
Speaker: So we really are here to add ritual back in
Speaker: and understand what the dying person might need, what they might want, what their final wishes are, who do they want to be around, what spiritual elements are important to them.
Speaker: Because sometimes these conversations just, everyone saves them for later and they don't end up happening.
Speaker: So we kind of are the impetus and the safe space to be there and help them with their transitions.
Speaker: But how did you go from the world of public relations and specifically for pets to the funeral world?
Speaker: So this year, 2020, been a little bit of a transition year for me as, you know, a lot of people are facing different challenges and different transitions.
Speaker: For me, this is something that I was actually planning toward.
Speaker: I'm still doing public relations in the pet industry.
Speaker: And I've also launched a life coaching business.
Speaker: And I actually spent the first couple of months of the quarantine in Guatemala.
Speaker: I had gone down to Guatemala for a conference that ended up not happening and ended up spending the first three months of quarantine down there.
Speaker: While I was there, I shaved my head and launched the life coaching business.
Speaker: And as I was planning on it, and I've been working on writing a book anyway, I came back to New York in June.
Speaker: I adopted two cats and I,
Speaker: met with a friend of mine who's a dentist in New York and she has a dog and she's a dentist and we know each other through kind of a spiritual connection and she told me about the death doula program that she went through and it was it through an elder which is the end of life doula Association and she told me about it and I just immediately resonated with it and went and signed up and
Speaker: actually because of COVID, I feel like it was really gave me an opportunity to do the training because normally it was, you know, in person in New Jersey and it would not be something that I would probably normally do because I don't go to New Jersey very much.
Speaker: I don't really like going there.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And so like the fact that it was on zoom, I was like, great, you know, weekends during the month of August and
Speaker: Somehow being able to stay at home and do it on Zoom and go through the training that way just worked out for me.
Speaker: So I'm just in the beginning, you know, I'm a certified death doula.
Speaker: I haven't helped anyone yet with their transition, but I am, you know, with COVID things have been a little bit weird as far as being in person with someone, but I will be volunteering in hospice in the coming months and hoping to meet some people that way and be able to help them
Speaker: as it goes on and hospice and death do the work really goes together because someone that is maybe has been given three months to live, six months to live.
Speaker: That's the right time to start thinking about a death doula.
Speaker: Not when you're met with like a sudden crisis, when you know it's coming, your quality of life is important to you.
Speaker: You want to be in hospice care, which usually means being at home, you know, where the nurses come to you.
Speaker: The death doula, we become part of the team.
Speaker: We become part of the hospice care team and we help understand what some of their signs are when they're like need their medication or need their food.
Speaker: And we don't give them those things, but we work with the hospice team to just make their life as comfortable as possible.
Speaker: One of the things I like to do is not to be disrespectful to anybody, but it's to dumb it down.
Speaker: It's to dumb down things that maybe coming from Ireland into the United States and doing what I do in the funeral business and having worked in corporate America and corporate Ireland and all these different things.
Speaker: I do think that sometimes things elude us because they're not explained as well.
Speaker: So one of the things I would say about a death doula, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, is you're almost like a non-family or friend advocate of the person who's dying, who's facing the most craziest experience that they've no experience of.
Speaker: And you're there to hold their hand.
Speaker: A hundred percent.
Speaker: We all have families, whatever those families look like and whatever challenges or non-challenges those families face for us.
Speaker: And yes, we're their advocate, you know, and helping stand up for them and whatever their needs are, you know, just because their daughter might be uber Catholic and have these certain ideas of what needs to happen, we can really stand in our truth and stand up for them and say, you know what, there's certain elements of the normal tradition that we want to celebrate and highlight, but
Speaker: but the person really wants this and being able to help have that conversation with the daughter, sister, mother, whoever, so that their wishes are carried out.
Speaker: That is so important.
Speaker: And for what I do in memorials, once the person has passed on, for what I do, what you're saying is exactly what I try and bring.
Speaker: So yeah, you're dealing with
Speaker: which is why I'm such a fan of pre-planning because you could be, if a mother passes away, there's so many things to so many different people.
Speaker: And one of my favorite things to kind of reiterate to people is every single person I meet on the street, my landlord, my brother, my nephew, my friend, my next door neighbor,
Speaker: a different version of Jennifer Muldowney lives in each of those.
Speaker: One thinks I'm a bitch, one thinks she's the loveliest person in the world, one thinks she's trustworthy, all of these different things.
Speaker: One thinks she's Catholic.
Speaker: And so I think it's so important when it comes to death, dying and bereavement that we take judgment out of the equation.
Speaker: And it's very difficult to do when you've been raised a certain way.
Speaker: And honestly, Dana, I think what
Speaker: death doulas stand for, I think is going to only escalate over the next 10, 20 years.
Speaker: Because for me, especially living here in New York and just witnessing what has gone on in 2020, the LGBT community, when I think of somebody standing up for them when they're not able to, I think is a huge thing for you to be able to offer to people because
Speaker: it's not always been an easy ride for them.
Speaker: And we can apply that equally to religion, as you pointed out, if the daughter is super Catholic, she has an idea as to what death and dying is for her mom or whatever it might be.
Speaker: So there's just so much that is going to develop in this category.
Speaker: I just think it's just going to blow up.
Speaker: And it's interesting because when you said you went to your dentist and she had gone through this and here you are coming from Pet Pior and interestingly,
Speaker: My hairdresser has taken a death doula course.
Speaker: So it just goes to show it's every walk of life.
Speaker: It doesn't matter what your career was or it will be because I do think I've not done a death doula course myself.
Speaker: And this is why it's interesting for me to talk to somebody like you.
Speaker: And people regularly say to me, Jen, I don't know how you do what you do.
Speaker: I don't know how you do what you do.
Speaker: And I know you haven't had your first full experience yet.
Speaker: And maybe you'll come back and talk to us about that reality.
Speaker: Cause I think that will be a really interesting transition for our listeners to hear.
Speaker: But I know there is absolutely no way in this world that I could do what you do.
Speaker: I think it's incredible.
Speaker: I couldn't be an Eeyore nurse.
Speaker: I couldn't.
Speaker: I mean, I've joked with you, I think several times that I literally that scene in Bridesmaids when she's running away with all the puppies.
Speaker: I'm like, that's me.
Speaker: If I worked in an adoption center, I just wouldn't be able to cope.
Speaker: I'd be taking them all home.
Speaker: You know, we're all built for different things.
Speaker: And so what's for one person is not for another.
Speaker: And so I think it's incredible.
Speaker: And I think if anybody is even remotely thinking of doing the course,
Speaker: we'll leave your details and maybe they can reach out and ask the inelda you were saying that you did the course because i just think especially now you even touched on it during covid it made it more accessible and easier for you to do which is actually there are so many pluses that have come from this pandemic there are a lot of horrors and a lot of negatives but i do think there are a lot of positives we can pull and whether it's you just don't want to go to new jersey
Speaker: Or it just made it more accessible to you and maybe more comfortable because you were able to do it in your own home.
Speaker: It's not an easy topic to do a course on.
Speaker: For the course itself, what was your favorite part and your least favorite part?
Speaker: Like, was there a part that terrified you or kind of scared as to how you'll feel when it comes down to it?
Speaker: Because, you know, let's be real.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: That's a great question.
Speaker: I think we were able to split out into groups many, many times during the course.
Speaker: and talk about our own process.
Speaker: So whether it's creating a legacy project or thinking about how we want people to be able to enter our space or where we want to be, all of these questions for our, and answering them for ourselves was a beautiful process.
Speaker: And different things came up for me than I thought they would, right?
Speaker: I thought I had an idea of what I wanted and then actually
Speaker: talking to other people about it and being witnessed in that process brought up other things.
Speaker: And then also hearing other people's ideas of what they want for themselves.
Speaker: And I'm like, wait, I want that.
Speaker: That sounds great.
Speaker: Wait, what?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Bring that over.
Speaker: I also just am correlating it in my mind to, it's a very similar thing for me as life coaching.
Speaker: It's like really holding a nonjudgmental space for people to just like be in their authentic truth.
Speaker: And
Speaker: Part of the question that they asked us that I think was one of the hardest things is that all of us were somehow drawn to be a death doula for a certain reason and understanding what that reason is and really being honest with ourselves about it is what will help us be the best death doula we can be.
Speaker: If that part is like a shadow side for us, it can be complicated.
Speaker: That was, I think a really good aha moment that was maybe a little bit challenging.
Speaker: And some parts where I thought it was clear, like energetically, I thought it was clear, you know, things came up.
Speaker: And so it was like really helpful to be able to move through that.
Speaker: Like you said, we're all coming from different places.
Speaker: You know, I, part of the course is also about doing guided visualizations and leading people through guided visualizations.
Speaker: And there's a lot of information on how, when someone's in pain,
Speaker: You know, there's only so much pain medication that they're allowed to have.
Speaker: And then at some point, we're able to offer alternative ways and a guided visualization is one of them.
Speaker: And that's something that just like that comes really natural to me.
Speaker: That's something that I've been doing for years just as a different term, like of meditation or some kind of journey work.
Speaker: So I guess for me, that was like something that I liked a lot because I felt confident.
Speaker: I felt comfortable doing it.
Speaker: And I was able to watch a lot of people struggling with that department of like not wanting to do it and what if they do it wrong.
Speaker: And I was like, oh, I got this.
Speaker: Guided visualizations, like I got that part, no problem.
Speaker: But maybe some other tough conversations is like a little bit more of my weakness.
Speaker: It's like the course is the course and however we show up and whatever our own holdbacks are is the part that's going to be a challenge or an opportunity to kind of work through
Speaker: People are, I think, talking about death more than they usually are.
Speaker: And it's a positive thing, right?
Speaker: Instead of having it be this like big, scary unknown somewhere, we're facing it.
Speaker: We as a society, as a global society, we're being forced to face it because unexpected deaths are like at the forefront.
Speaker: That part is positive, that people are able to look at that and look at their fears and start to like think through it a little bit.
Speaker: When doing the course, is part of the course you as a group or individually facing your own death?
Speaker: Every piece that we would offer someone else, we go through as ourselves.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That's really powerful.
Speaker: For me, that's such a powerful part of what I do on a daily basis.
Speaker: When you're faced with people's loss, it makes me appreciate every single person in my life.
Speaker: I do not hang up the phone without love you, bye, which something so small, but the amount of people I encounter on a daily basis that they're like, I don't know if I told them I loved them the last time I was talking to them or whatever it might be, whatever your
Speaker: comfort level is or whatever so that's something that I now know that I do so if anything does happen I can be sure of that uh now saying it and you know you don't want it to turn into okay love you bye you know and it's not a thing to really just end with love you
Speaker: miss you, whatever it might be, bye.
Speaker: So it is thinking about our own demise and it is a fact, unfortunately, nobody has come back to tell us otherwise if there is, you know, a possibility of that.
Speaker: And so I do think you live more fully when you appreciate that this thing as we know it called life is going to end someday.
Speaker: A book I read recently, I don't know if you've read it, it's actually by an English author, Catherine Mannix.
Speaker: She was due to speak at an end of life convention in Ireland a couple of years back and I was scheduled to be at it and unfortunately couldn't make it.
Speaker: So I got her book, it's called With the End in Mind.
Speaker: You should definitely check it out because I felt as harsh as it was to try and read it.
Speaker: And she actually manages to, it's not that harsh, but it is a harsh topic.
Speaker: Like what we're discussing today is hard for people, the majority of people to even talk about or resonate with.
Speaker: And as you said, 2020 is the year it's coming to the fore a lot more, but she manages in that book, I work in funerals.
Speaker: I create beautiful memorials for people.
Speaker: Does that mean I'm okay with death?
Speaker: No, it doesn't.
Speaker: Like, I'm not an ambulance chaser, as I've, you know, sometimes you get that.
Speaker: I didn't sit down with my mum and do her pre-plan and think, okay, you know, if she goes tomorrow, I'm not going to be bothered.
Speaker: It's the polar opposite.
Speaker: I actually, my heart is, I cry at the drop of a hat.
Speaker: I'm highly emotional, but I absolutely adore what I do.
Speaker: And yes, it makes me face death and loss every day.
Speaker: But facing my own death, while I had planned my funeral, until I read Catherine's book, I really hadn't sat down and thought what it must be like to die.
Speaker: And that book
Speaker: I can tell you for me was incredible, was absolutely incredible.
Speaker: It definitely, I sent it home to my mom and I told her she had to read it.
Speaker: And then she wouldn't be as, you know, again, she's like a lot of the listeners and non-listeners, not as into it as you and I might be.
Speaker: You know, like it's a thing, but I actually do think every human being should read it because to me, it took the scare out of it.
Speaker: I actually thought to myself, oh my God, it sounds really peaceful.
Speaker: It can be, it has the potential to be a beautiful thing.
Speaker: I think people like you and death doulas are so important.
Speaker: We have midwives, we have birth doulas who bring us into the world.
Speaker: Why in God's name don't we have somebody to take us out?
Speaker: I mean, really, when you think about it, it's the top three things that we're most terrified of is death.
Speaker: If we can make it a good death, why would we not?
Speaker: That's exactly it.
Speaker: And we talk a lot about the good death, being witnessed and not being alone and feeling safe and feeling held.
Speaker: It could even be as simple as like holding the person's hand as they transition of just like that they are, have this connection and have this good death.
Speaker: And you mentioned that maybe it's not for your mom.
Speaker: I mean, I've been going now to death cafes and
Speaker: about once a month.
Speaker: And it's just like a place where people can talk about death.
Speaker: And I mentioned it to my mom.
Speaker: She's like, oh, well, that's not my cup of tea.
Speaker: For me, that's where suffering comes from is like non-acceptance.
Speaker: Like it's the one thing we all have in common.
Speaker: Only thing we all have in common, we born and we die.
Speaker: And the more able we are to accept that doesn't mean we want it.
Speaker: It doesn't mean we want to speed it up.
Speaker: It just means that we're
Speaker: okay with it because it's real and that's really happening.
Speaker: And I think the more separation we create is where more suffering happens.
Speaker: Yeah, you're preaching to the converted there.
Speaker: You're literally taking words out of my mouth.
Speaker: It's absolutely.
Speaker: One of the things I find hilarious is that
Speaker: on this journey that I've been on is that Irish people are great at dealing with death.
Speaker: I'm like, say what?
Speaker: We absolutely are not.
Speaker: Yeah, we know how to have a great wake and we deal with the actual physicality of it in a good way.
Speaker: But we don't talk about it.
Speaker: A good death in Ireland is still being worked on.
Speaker: That's still an idea.
Speaker: Gabriel Byrne, the famous actor, he was a big advocate of this.
Speaker: The End of Life Forum are doing huge work at the Irish Hospice.
Speaker: These are all still people trying to work on us dealing with the fact that we all die.
Speaker: Irish people are the most... We can't talk about that.
Speaker: It's like, oh my God, if I speak about it...
Speaker: it will happen.
Speaker: Like I'll never forget in a convention, a funeral directors convention, a little baby one that happened in Ireland because we don't do them like they do over here.
Speaker: I wanted a photo of me in a coffin, in a casket, in a coffin.
Speaker: I thought, you'll understand, great viewer opportunity.
Speaker: You know, I thought, let me hop in here, great.
Speaker: You know, and I couldn't get one person to take a photo.
Speaker: Not one person because they were like, no, this is no, no, suspicion, no, not suspicion.
Speaker: Superstitious.
Speaker: Yeah, they absolutely would not.
Speaker: I mean, it's just crazy.
Speaker: So it mind boggles me.
Speaker: And yet when I think back to over 10 years ago, when I started this, that was the realization for me.
Speaker: I was sitting in, unfortunately, too many friends funerals at the time.
Speaker: And I was looking at it from an events perspective, because that's just where my brain, you know, just goes logistically.
Speaker: I was in the events business at the time, I was dealing with the grief of losing my friend and then I was honestly having a holy lots of profanities moment.
Speaker: If he can die at 23, who the hell says I have any right to last till... My immortality idea was shot to shit.
Speaker: That was a massive wakening up for me and not many people get that.
Speaker: And I hope many people don't get that because it's a horrible realization because unfortunately it means you've lost somebody young your age.
Speaker: Every day is a blessing.
Speaker: I mean, it really and truly is.
Speaker: And you learn to appreciate it, I think, in our fields and what we do.
Speaker: It doesn't have to be negative Nancy and it doesn't have to be doom and gloom and dreary.
Speaker: I'm sitting here in a yellow cardigan.
Speaker: You've got a beautiful purple scarf around your neck.
Speaker: Like it's...
Speaker: It can be happy, normal, young, female, outgoing, yapper away.
Speaker: I mean, you and I never are lost for words for conversation.
Speaker: It doesn't have to be the Addams Family picture it's painted as, that death is the grim reaper, that it's doom and gloom.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And I think it's important what you mentioned is like the one death that shook things up a little bit for you.
Speaker: You know, like I had that happen too.
Speaker: She actually happened to be Irish living in New York, but I had a friend who died young and she wasn't even a close friend of mine.
Speaker: You know, we were like acquaintances, but her death like did something to me profound that, that I'd had other loss in my life.
Speaker: I had other, but this death was like a wake up call that helped me.
Speaker: change me to live my life with more gratitude.
Speaker: And so I don't not wish it upon anyone because it has helped me.
Speaker: I'm grateful for that moment where I was able to say, you know what?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Like, how am I living?
Speaker: What am I, how am I spending my hours?
Speaker: Is it, am I working, working, working like all the time?
Speaker: Like how am I enjoying each day?
Speaker: How am I taking time to really enjoy this life?
Speaker: That is a gift.
Speaker: That is this precious thing that we have, that we have no idea how long it's going to last.
Speaker: And so I'm grateful for that moment.
Speaker: You know, it doesn't mean anything about my judgment on if she should still be alive or not.
Speaker: It's just that that experience helped me live a more full life.
Speaker: And it's helped me on my path.
Speaker: You mentioned like wearing, you know, wearing bright colors and it doesn't have to be like this doom and gloom.
Speaker: It,
Speaker: Something that I got out of the death doula training was like when you have visitors, how you can set your expectation for what you want.
Speaker: And so I was able to play around with the idea of like whenever I die that I would be here in this apartment looking over a view of the beach.
Speaker: When people come in to say goodbye to me, they have to take their shoes off.
Speaker: They have to sit in a gratitude chair and just take a moment to recenter themselves and not bring
Speaker: this shit from the traffic and the train and the person who knocked into them, not bring any of that stuff to me.
Speaker: I don't want that.
Speaker: And have a glitter station, you know, they can like, there's like a whole glitter station.
Speaker: They can glitter themselves.
Speaker: They can glitter me, whatever they want, or they can not do the glitter, you know, self DIY glitter station.
Speaker: And it's like, yeah, that's what I would want.
Speaker: That's who I am.
Speaker: In my old apartment, I literally had a glitter station just in the living room for some glitter.
Speaker: So why wouldn't I want to incorporate those fun, juicy parts of my life into the ceremonial aspect of the goodbyes?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm just laughing because I'm thinking, you know that prank, practical joke of sending somebody a glitter bomb?
Speaker: You're like one of the few people who would love it, who would be like, you thought you were ruining my day?
Speaker: Hooray!
Speaker: This is amazing.
Speaker: That's brilliant.
Speaker: That is hilarious.
Speaker: Just goes to show though, even that is, it's how you look at life.
Speaker: You can look at it one way, like you've just ruined my carpet, or you can look at it and go, look at all these beautiful sparkles somebody sent to me.
Speaker: You know, it's interesting.
Speaker: Now I do have a question too.
Speaker: the pet PR are you blending your businesses are you kind of gonna evolve that out death doula in are you kind of testing the waters to see is this something you're gonna do part-time how are you kind of and you've got the life coaching oh my god how do you write a book I can't keep up oh
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Thank you, Jennifer.
Speaker: I feel like my friends are like, what are you up to?
Speaker: And I'm like, well, I'm learning PR business.
Speaker: I'm writing a book.
Speaker: I'm launching a life coaching business.
Speaker: I'm launching a life doula business.
Speaker: And they're like, yeah.
Speaker: And what else?
Speaker: And I'm like, no, that's what I have going on right now.
Speaker: To me, that's a no.
Speaker: You're good.
Speaker: My CPA understands it.
Speaker: You know, I feel like he's like the only one.
Speaker: He's like, yeah, that's a lot of stuff.
Speaker: I am working on an exit strategy for the PR business that will probably happen as a slow feed over the next couple of years.
Speaker: As I ramp up the other parts, the book should be done by the end of this year.
Speaker: Do you get a teaser as to what it's about?
Speaker: The book is about codependency and pets.
Speaker: Oh, interesting.
Speaker: Oh, I will be purchasing that.
Speaker: Excellent.
Speaker: Very interesting.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: You'll have to come back on and talk about the book.
Speaker: That I'm fascinated with.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, we'll have to come back on, talk about the book.
Speaker: I'll have read it by then and then I'll quiz you.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: That sounds good.
Speaker: So there's a lot going on though.
Speaker: How do you take a time out?
Speaker: How do you live your life other than all that's going on there?
Speaker: A really important question.
Speaker: I make an effort to go outside every single day and get some sunshine, get some of that dopamine, oxytocin, happy, feel good chemicals going on.
Speaker: And I live by the beach.
Speaker: Always very envious of anybody who lives by water.
Speaker: That's part of why I live in New York is because even though it does get cold, it's sunny.
Speaker: It is sunny a lot of the time.
Speaker: And that's really important to me.
Speaker: Yeah, I have a few parts of my morning routine, morning ritual that are pretty key, I think, to my overall well-being.
Speaker: Just every day I try to be more aware, more conscious about what I'm consuming from an entertainment perspective, who I spend my time with, doing things really out of joy versus obligation.
Speaker: All right, last question to wrap up.
Speaker: I'm just going to ask the hair.
Speaker: A, what made you do it?
Speaker: When I knew Dana, she had a beautiful vein of hair.
Speaker: So A, what made you do it?
Speaker: And B, will you ever let it grow back?
Speaker: It's fab, but I have two very important questions.
Speaker: Tell me.
Speaker: The hair is part of the ultimate like letting go process.
Speaker: I actually had a ritual.
Speaker: I put my hair into three braids and one was the past, present and future.
Speaker: I cut off the braid for the past and I buried it.
Speaker: The present braid, I had a burning ceremony with my roommates in Guatemala.
Speaker: And then the future, I donated it.
Speaker: For now, I am keeping it short.
Speaker: It's like the ultimate letting go.
Speaker: Even when I let it grow out and I'm like a little chia pet out to here and then I cut it again, it's just like a non-attachment again.
Speaker: It's like just releasing even two weeks' worth of life or problems.
Speaker: It's just like another reset.
Speaker: It's beautiful.
Speaker: I mean, yeah, it's like a ritual.
Speaker: I mean, everybody has their own little and that's one of the things that I think is important, especially at the moment with COVID is for everybody to find what their ritual and what brings them joy and helps them mentally deal with what's going on right now.
Speaker: So important.
Speaker: That sounded like such an incredible ritual.
Speaker: Like, I love that.
Speaker: The braid thing.
Speaker: That's amazing.
Speaker: I never, I'm glad I asked the question.
Speaker: I mean, it just goes to show because it's so funny.
Speaker: The amount of people who would be like, Jen, you can't ask that.
Speaker: Like, don't be asking somebody, you know, I'm like, oh, I'll ask.
Speaker: I will ask the question.
Speaker: That makes beautiful sense to me.
Speaker: It's, you know, any other reason could have made any sense to me.
Speaker: You just wanted to, but it's just like, that's such an interesting story that we'd never have dug into if I hadn't have asked.
Speaker: It's a reminder to myself of this path that I want to be on as like really holding space and helping people in their life versus like in the marketing wheel.
Speaker: And it's just a reminder to myself because the marketing side of things is very seductive to me.
Speaker: And it's very easy for me to get kind of like sucked back in.
Speaker: And for me, it's just like a
Speaker: reminder to myself of like who I am and what I stand for and where I want to be going.
Speaker: I guess I'm flirting with the idea, my birthday's in January and I'm flirting with the idea of letting it grow out.
Speaker: in January when it's like full winter, full hat season, just going for it.
Speaker: My last reshave on my birthday and then let it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And then let it grow.
Speaker: And then maybe it's going to grow a whole new future, a whole new life, a whole new maybe that's death doula.
Speaker: You know, it could be, could release something else.
Speaker: You just don't know.
Speaker: It's all to play for.
Speaker: There is a famous quote and I always mess these things up because I have a terrible memory.
Speaker: But it's something about, you know, each the amazing thing about each new day is that it's a fresh beginning.
Speaker: It's not been written yet.
Speaker: It's even if you've got the diary packed full of appointments, you can ditch them all.
Speaker: It's there's nothing.
Speaker: concrete.
Speaker: And so who knows what 2021 will bring.
Speaker: Thank you so much, Dana, for being here, being present and for sharing your incredible, I mean, I don't even know this podcast will go down as career change.
Speaker: It could go down as
Speaker: you know, the death deal, the funeral, but it's, you know, or just life in general, how we evolve.
Speaker: It's just incredible.
Speaker: And I'm so proud to know you.
Speaker: And I'm so proud of the journey that you've been on because I mean, you were always so ready to embrace, you know,
Speaker: change and life that was something I always saw about you even going to your birthdays it was just such a melting pot of people and experiences and you know it really was it was just the glitter station makes total sense thank you so much thank you so much my lovely talk to you soon thanks for tuning into the glam reaper podcast I hope you got some little nuggets
Speaker: goals from today's podcast.
Speaker: I'm your host, Jennifer Muldowney, aka The Glam Reaper.
