Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Six Feet Under Pressure: A Legacy's Burden in the Funeral Industry Part 2
6 Plays10 months ago
In part 2 of this episode of The Glam Reaper Podcast, Jennifer Muldowney continues her conversation with Caleb Wilde and delves into how the funeral industry is evolving due to generational shifts and technological advancements.
Caleb talks about the challenges funeral directors face with rapid changes and resistance to new ideas. He highlights the different communication styles across generations and the pressure to conform to traditional practices in family-owned businesses.
Jennifer acknowledges the industry's shift towards more personalized and diverse practices, recognizing that the funeral industry is not static but continually evolving to meet the needs of modern society.
Tune in to this enlightening episode as Jennifer and Caleb delve into the evolving challenges and triumphs within the funeral industry!
Key Topics:
-Struggles of funeral directors with societal changes
-Generational differences in adapting to changes in Funeral industry
-Challenges between family-owned and corporate-run funeral homes
-Importance of trust, transparency, and understanding individual values in supporting grieving families
-Mental health challenges faced by funeral directors
Quotes From The Episode:
They would rather feel the comfort of doing what they already know, than the discomfort of being challenged to think about something new.
- Caleb Wilde
All of these moments are sewn together to make these moments happen.
- Jennifer Muldowney
Timestamp:
[00:00] Podcast Intro
[00:30] Caleb highlights how funeral directors are struggling to adapt to rapid societal changes.
[01:47] Jennifer reflects on generational differences in adapting to change.
[04:28] Caleb emphasizes the differences between family-owned and corporate-run funeral homes.
[10:29] Jennifer delves into the importance of trust, transparency, and understanding individual values in the funeral industry.
[13:58] Caleb talks about his personal journey and experience of writing books.
[17:23] Caleb discussed the mental health challenges faced by funeral directors, including burnout, depression, and anxiety.
[24:54] Jennifer acknowledges that the funeral industry is evolving towards more personalized and diverse practices.
[27:49] Outro
Connect with Caleb Wilde:
Facebook - /ConfessionsofaFuneralDirector
Website - book.calebwilde.com
Instagram - @confessions_of_a_funeral_dir
Twitter - @CalebWilde
Connect with Jennifer/The Glam Reaper on socials at:
Facebook Page - Memorials
https://www.facebook.com/MuldowneyMemorials/
Instagram - @muldowneymemorials
Email us - glamreaperpodcast@gmail.com
Listen to The Glam Reaper Podcast on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-glam-reaper-podcast/id1572382989?i=1000525524145
You Tube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWe3sNoPny6UsMGYoYDeXfw
Recommended
Transcript
Comfort vs. Challenge in Thought
00:00:00
Speaker
they would rather feel the comfort of doing what they already know than the discomfort of being challenged to think about something new.
00:00:21
Speaker
And now, you know, again, 2024, a blog's like a dinosaur.
00:00:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:26
Speaker
Still do ours.
00:00:27
Speaker
I still do ours.
00:00:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm looking to start mine back up.
00:00:32
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:00:33
Speaker
Yeah, everything is like bumper sticker-ish where, you know, if you want something to do really well on Instagram, it can't be a thousand words.
00:00:42
Speaker
You're, you know, if you're pushing 200 words, you're not going to get many I's.
00:00:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:49
Speaker
And so...
00:00:50
Speaker
bit concise right everything's changed and it's changing at a very rapid pace and that's just the nature of the world today
00:00:58
Speaker
And so the world as it currently exists is scary for funeral directors because it's changing so fast.
00:01:08
Speaker
It's frightening.
00:01:09
Speaker
And so instead of being curious, most funeral directors have just dug their feet in and go on the defense.
00:01:20
Speaker
Instead of embracing change and being curious and asking questions, well, why is it like this now?
00:01:26
Speaker
Now, why do millennials think this way?
00:01:27
Speaker
Why does Gen Z think this way?
00:01:30
Speaker
They revert to what they know.
00:01:32
Speaker
And it's very egotistical.
Generational Attitudes Towards Change
00:01:34
Speaker
It's not in accordance with the higher self.
00:01:37
Speaker
It's something where they would rather feel the comfort of doing what they already know than the discomfort of being challenged to think about something new.
00:01:48
Speaker
because for them what they've known has worked.
00:01:51
Speaker
And it's still working because they're still dealing with people who are just like them.
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:57
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:01:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:58
Speaker
Listen, there's so many great points there.
00:02:00
Speaker
And I kind of giggled in the middle because I'm always reminded my mom like that.
00:02:07
Speaker
She's of that generation.
00:02:08
Speaker
She's turning 70 this year.
00:02:09
Speaker
And, you know, she'll say, don't be telling every why do you have to tell everybody everything?
00:02:13
Speaker
And this not talking about work now, you know, why do you don't tell everybody everything?
00:02:17
Speaker
And
00:02:17
Speaker
what do you mean putting on that social media?
00:02:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's a different world.
00:02:22
Speaker
And I try and explain to them, you get your news from your newspaper.
00:02:25
Speaker
I get mine online like that.
00:02:27
Speaker
We're just different.
00:02:29
Speaker
I don't have physical newspaper.
00:02:30
Speaker
I always hated those things because they're always ridiculously large anyway.
00:02:33
Speaker
It's awkward.
00:02:35
Speaker
But it's yeah, it's just it's evolved and it's just different.
00:02:38
Speaker
And so I just yeah, you've hit on some really, really important points there in terms of talking about how
00:02:45
Speaker
Even when I'm doing presentations for funeral directors and stuff, and I've had conversations with people about this where, you know, we might be talking about, I don't know, kickbacks or commissions or stuff like that.
00:02:57
Speaker
And, oh, but Jen, that's just the way it's always been done.
00:03:00
Speaker
OK, that doesn't mean that that's got to be the way it's got to be always done.
00:03:05
Speaker
Just because it's the way it's always been done in the past doesn't mean it's the way it always has to continue being done.
00:03:11
Speaker
So there is this very sort of archaic and even amongst the young people like that, that was that retort was given to me by somebody in their 30s.
00:03:19
Speaker
And I'm like, what?
00:03:20
Speaker
Because it's just passed on generationally.
00:03:23
Speaker
And
Traditional vs. Modern Funeral Services
00:03:24
Speaker
if you don't accept it, then you're not a part of the old boys club.
00:03:29
Speaker
And that's absolutely you've hit the nail on the head there.
00:03:32
Speaker
Yes.
00:03:32
Speaker
I mean, in some I've been referred to as what I do, the sort of the larger events.
00:03:39
Speaker
So it's a funeral.
00:03:40
Speaker
It's still a funeral.
00:03:40
Speaker
It's a memorial, but it's in maybe a grander building.
00:03:43
Speaker
There's food and drink involved.
00:03:45
Speaker
Like I kind of talk, it's like the wake 2.0.
00:03:48
Speaker
It's just bringing back food and drink into that mourning process.
00:03:52
Speaker
Like it's been referred to as piggledy, piggledy bullshit.
00:03:54
Speaker
And I'm like, oh, I'm sorry.
00:03:55
Speaker
Oh, I'm sorry.
00:03:58
Speaker
Like, what?
00:03:58
Speaker
Why?
00:03:59
Speaker
Like, you know, just the.
00:04:01
Speaker
And then there's been references to people who just because they're not in somebody's particular vision and they're called interlopers.
00:04:08
Speaker
I mean, why?
00:04:09
Speaker
They're licensed professional just like you.
00:04:11
Speaker
They have to go through the same standards just like you.
00:04:14
Speaker
What makes them an interloper just because they don't fit into the bracket that you're talking about?
00:04:18
Speaker
Which does bring me to a question.
00:04:21
Speaker
So you've obviously, you're sixth generation, you've grown up in it.
00:04:25
Speaker
What's your thoughts versus family-owned funeral?
00:04:29
Speaker
Yeah, and maybe I'll take it a step farther.
00:04:34
Speaker
That's tough.
00:04:35
Speaker
So the macroeconomics, microeconomics.
00:04:39
Speaker
So family-owned businesses are incredibly micro.
00:04:44
Speaker
where they evolve in a dance with their community.
00:04:50
Speaker
And that's also why people become so ingrained, funeral directors become so ingrained in their opinions about what is right and what is best for the funeral industry, what should be done, what defines professionalism.
00:05:07
Speaker
Because for them, in their specific community, whether it be in Alabama,
00:05:14
Speaker
or whether it be in North Carolina or Texas or California or Washington state, the specific community that they're dealing with is different.
00:05:25
Speaker
Each community has its own sensibilities to it.
00:05:29
Speaker
And sometimes you walk into a community and it's like, wow, I'm in the 1950s.
00:05:33
Speaker
And then other times you walk into one and it's like, oh, this is 20 years ahead of
00:05:38
Speaker
of where the rest of the world is.
00:05:40
Speaker
And those communities from one to another can be right next to each other.
00:05:44
Speaker
And so the funeral director that's serving in the 1950s community, they're doing it right for their community.
00:05:51
Speaker
And the next one over that has green burial options and that focuses on personalization,
00:06:00
Speaker
and they might employ a death doula or perhaps an event planner.
00:06:06
Speaker
A funeral home like that is also right because within their specific context, they're serving that context.
Challenges in Funeral Home Operations
00:06:16
Speaker
So family businesses are oftentimes by nature unparalleled.
00:06:22
Speaker
more microeconomic, where they are honing in on their specific community, on their specific context, and their reflection of that.
00:06:34
Speaker
Whereas something that's corporate, you're going to have
00:06:37
Speaker
It's there's going to be a lot more standardization.
00:06:40
Speaker
So and it's a macro perspective where, you know, it's obviously not going to be the same from one funeral home to the next.
00:06:51
Speaker
That's corporate run.
00:06:53
Speaker
But there is going to be standard procedures that translate because it's corporate.
00:06:59
Speaker
So I think that's one of the main difference.
00:07:01
Speaker
And that has it has pluses and minuses to it.
00:07:04
Speaker
And the family funeral home being connected to the community and being connected with the community and having that more personal connection is something that is probably going to be more likely the case.
00:07:19
Speaker
It's also going to be the case that you work longer hours because you're not staffed as well or you're understaffed.
00:07:26
Speaker
And the expectation is that it's a lifestyle in a family-run business or in a small private home because that's the way that they've lived their lives.
00:07:37
Speaker
They are embedded entirely in their community, in their local community.
00:07:42
Speaker
And that's not always the case when corporate-run funeral homes where there's a lot of transplant plants.
00:07:48
Speaker
Managers who live in one part of Texas are managing a funeral home in another that they've never existed in before.
00:07:55
Speaker
So those same connections aren't there and you just default to the stand features.
00:08:02
Speaker
I'm talking a lot, aren't I?
00:08:04
Speaker
I feel like I'm dominating the conversation and I apologize.
Consumer Values in Funeral Arrangements
00:08:10
Speaker
Good.
00:08:10
Speaker
I asked you this to give me a breather.
00:08:12
Speaker
People want to hear from you, not from me.
00:08:15
Speaker
Well, no, that's not true.
00:08:17
Speaker
I get tired of hearing myself talk sometimes.
00:08:21
Speaker
So I really don't talk much.
00:08:23
Speaker
And partially because I have kids.
00:08:26
Speaker
Oh, wow.
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, they don't let you talk to all that.
00:08:29
Speaker
No.
00:08:30
Speaker
But, yeah, so I think on a larger level, though, I do believe that if a new funeral director is looking to be hired into a corporate or private or family-run,
00:08:48
Speaker
it's oftentimes easier to get into the corporate.
00:08:51
Speaker
And then I think the lack of the personal touch...
00:08:55
Speaker
or the lack of the integration into the community oftentimes will move people towards a family realm.
00:09:00
Speaker
Not always, but that's something that I've seen.
00:09:03
Speaker
From a consumer's perspective, you want to feel connected to the person that you're talking to, to the funeral director that you're talking to.
00:09:12
Speaker
And if there's a family-run funeral home, chances are you probably know them or have some connection to the funeral director.
00:09:19
Speaker
Yeah, before you've walked on the door.
00:09:21
Speaker
Before you've walked in the door.
00:09:22
Speaker
So that's value.
00:09:25
Speaker
Trust is the most important commodity.
00:09:28
Speaker
And I am willing, when it comes to my dead one, my dead loved one being cared for, if I'm a consumer, if I'm somebody looking to hire a funeral home or a funeral director,
00:09:40
Speaker
I'm willing to pay a couple extra hundred more if I trust somebody.
00:09:44
Speaker
And so that's the main thing for consumers.
00:09:48
Speaker
Do you trust the funeral home that you're going to?
00:09:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting because it's something that I've been preaching.
00:09:56
Speaker
I don't know if preaching is the right word.
00:09:58
Speaker
Something that I've been sort of talking about with funeral directors who, you know, are maybe looking to see how I sell what I sell to families and sort of how that all works.
00:10:10
Speaker
And like what I say is.
00:10:12
Speaker
it comes down, absolutely, it comes down to trust, transparency, but also value.
00:10:17
Speaker
So, like, what do they value?
00:10:18
Speaker
Like, as you just said, you'd pay a couple of dollars more or whatever it might be when you trust the person.
00:10:24
Speaker
And, you know, like, and so these conversations happen because somebody might say to me, well, Jen, how did you sell $100,000 in flowers?
00:10:33
Speaker
And, like, they spent nothing on food.
00:10:36
Speaker
Or how did they spend $60,000 on food and then they wanted the venue for free or whatever it might be.
00:10:42
Speaker
And I'm like, that's what they see the value in.
00:10:44
Speaker
You know, they're a foodie or they really like booze or they really like a particular flower or the aesthetic is really important to them or that particular venue is really important to them.
00:10:55
Speaker
So it all just comes down to like what we
Content Consumption Evolution
00:10:58
Speaker
value.
00:10:58
Speaker
And we're all so different.
00:11:00
Speaker
And I think the sooner, you know, I'm always preaching this, like there's not one thing that will do for me, that will do for you, that will do for 10 million other people.
00:11:08
Speaker
We're all so different.
00:11:10
Speaker
And even a set of twins don't do things the exact same way every single day.
00:11:15
Speaker
And just knowing that, like, never in history, ever, ever, ever again are Jennifer and Caleb going to have a conversation exactly like this one.
00:11:25
Speaker
This is never going to be repeated.
00:11:26
Speaker
And that's just incredible to kind of think about.
00:11:29
Speaker
that, you know, somebody, if I walk out of my apartment tomorrow and just take in a breath, that breath is never going to be repeated ever, ever, ever again in history with exactly the surroundings, exactly the terrible political thing that's going on right now in this country.
00:11:45
Speaker
whatever like all of these all of these moments are sewn together to make these moments happen um and it's just the i just feel like the sooner we realize that we're not all alike and that we all can't be just shipped into a little box i think and i think the gen zers are are pushing that probably more than than us millennials and i think we started the band wagon a little bit right continuing it on um and i think you're we're seeing that with like as you said you started and
00:12:14
Speaker
an archaic blog back in the Stone Age when we started blogging.
00:12:18
Speaker
And now like they're on TikTok doing doing what you spent 10 hours writing a blog on.
00:12:24
Speaker
They're doing in a 10 second reel of here's here's the right.
00:12:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:29
Speaker
They, you know, they always say history will repeat itself.
00:12:32
Speaker
And so we probably will come back to the written word and people will get sort of to be too much.
00:12:38
Speaker
I mean, there's already too much, honestly, like I can't keep up.
00:12:41
Speaker
I do have a TikTok account, but good God.
00:12:44
Speaker
Yeah, right.
00:12:47
Speaker
Keeping up
Journey of Writing Books
00:12:48
Speaker
with everything.
00:12:49
Speaker
So tell me when it came to then writing the books and how many books have you got now?
00:12:54
Speaker
So when it came to writing the books, what was the inspiration behind that?
00:12:58
Speaker
Or did somebody sort of approach you and sort of say, listen, love your blog, want to put it in a book form?
00:13:03
Speaker
Or, you know, how did that journey go for you?
00:13:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:08
Speaker
So I always wanted to write a book.
00:13:10
Speaker
I did.
00:13:11
Speaker
that was part of my motivation in starting a blog was to eventually be able to write a book.
00:13:18
Speaker
And it got to a place where people reached out to me for both books and asked if I wanted to write one.
00:13:26
Speaker
And I said, yes.
00:13:29
Speaker
So I like books.
00:13:32
Speaker
I still, even though I don't get to read them as much as I used to, books are a safe place for me.
00:13:39
Speaker
They're a place where I can lose myself for a little bit in somebody else's story, in somebody else's thoughts, in somebody else's head, in somebody else's heart, somebody else's soul.
00:13:50
Speaker
And there's a lasting value to books.
00:13:54
Speaker
So that's kind of what I wanted to do.
00:13:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:14
Speaker
And the material that you write, you can still identify with it to some extent.
00:14:20
Speaker
But that whole process of working through drafts and then having it published and then once it's finally for sale, it's like two, three years removed from when you started and you felt it, which is always an odd thing.
00:14:35
Speaker
Just how you can write a book and then once it's finally born, it's...
00:14:41
Speaker
You don't identify with it as much as you did.
00:14:43
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, I look at those books and I'm glad that I wrote them and they have my name attached to them and and they are my
Mental Health in Funeral Industry
00:14:52
Speaker
words.
00:14:53
Speaker
And at the same time, they feel so far away from me.
00:14:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:57
Speaker
No, writing a book, it's it's a full time job in and of itself.
00:15:02
Speaker
I was I was pretty blessed with my first one and I'm writing my fourth one at the moment.
00:15:06
Speaker
But it's well, thank you.
00:15:09
Speaker
But it's it's more it's kind of similar to what you said.
00:15:12
Speaker
It's sort of there.
00:15:13
Speaker
It's in my brain and I sort of just need to kind of get it out.
00:15:16
Speaker
And I think when you are a writer and a speaker and stuff like that, I think.
00:15:21
Speaker
And I don't know, I don't necessarily describe myself as a creative, but I think that's just an outlet for me, whether it's speaking and having interesting conversations with people or just sitting down on my laptop and just letting things.
00:15:32
Speaker
I've always journaled.
00:15:33
Speaker
I've always kept a diary, dear diary, you know.
00:15:36
Speaker
have always just enjoyed sort of getting yeah getting thoughts down on paper and it was what started as a child did sort of because as we get busier as adult did sort of fade away but now has almost become book writing instead of journaling every single day as such even though now you're it's recommended that that's the thing that you should do not everyone has time for that so tell us we've kind of come through the journey a little bit Caleb's journey
00:16:02
Speaker
Tell us about the moment, the decision of stepping away from your family funeral home business and what does that look like?
00:16:11
Speaker
What did that look like for you then?
00:16:14
Speaker
And what does it look like for you now?
00:16:15
Speaker
And sort of what brought you to that decision?
00:16:18
Speaker
I was burnt out.
00:16:20
Speaker
And this is the part now of attempting to be transparent about something that's being met with resistance within the funeral industry.
00:16:34
Speaker
So the first step was being transparent about what it's like to be a funeral director and
00:16:41
Speaker
What goes on behind the closed curtains?
00:16:45
Speaker
So what is more difficult is being transparent about what it's like to experience the mental health side of being a funeral director.
00:16:59
Speaker
and being transparent about burnout and depression and anxiety and suicidal ideation, all of these things that are attached to working 12-hour days around death.
00:17:12
Speaker
So yeah, I kind of, I did not see a future for myself at my family's Sheener home.
00:17:21
Speaker
And my dad's retiring soon, and the future that I saw
00:17:27
Speaker
was very grim.
00:17:29
Speaker
And I knew that if I continued to stay, that my burnout would not decrease, but would get drastically worse.
00:17:41
Speaker
So I made the very hard decision, and it's still a decision that is, it's gray.
00:17:49
Speaker
It's not a black and white thing.
00:17:52
Speaker
It might be easy to say, well, it was
00:17:54
Speaker
damaging my mental health and I was not living a life that I enjoyed and say, well, that's reason enough and it is.
00:18:04
Speaker
But then the other side of it was it's your job, it's your identity, it's how you put food on the table.
00:18:10
Speaker
It's what do they say that bravery only happens or bravery happens in the face of fear.
00:18:16
Speaker
It was a brave step for me to leave.
00:18:19
Speaker
Because there's a lot of on there.
00:18:21
Speaker
It's the only thing I've ever done my entire life.
00:18:23
Speaker
It was the only thing that I was encouraged and groomed to do.
00:18:28
Speaker
And being a funeral director is an identity in itself.
00:18:32
Speaker
It's not, you know, people say it's, it's a lifestyle.
00:18:36
Speaker
It's, it's like a marriage in some sense where you become everywhere you go in your community, people see you as a funeral director.
00:18:49
Speaker
It's, it's who you are leaving that identity.
00:18:54
Speaker
And leaving the only thing that I knew has had its own set of difficulties and problems.
00:19:00
Speaker
But I knew that if I continued that what I was dealing with wouldn't get better.
00:19:05
Speaker
So I left.
00:19:07
Speaker
And yeah, so that's... And this is the part that, again, isn't talked about.
00:19:14
Speaker
There is a lot of toxicity in the funeral industry.
00:19:19
Speaker
There's a lot of narcissistic personalities in the funeral industry.
00:19:24
Speaker
There is very little space for work-life balance.
00:19:28
Speaker
There's very little space for mental health conversations.
00:19:32
Speaker
There's very little support.
Future of Funeral Industry
00:19:33
Speaker
There's very little resources.
00:19:34
Speaker
We're underserved when it comes to mental health, not just because we're not seen by the public as needing it, but because we act like we don't need it.
00:19:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:48
Speaker
Somebody said the other day, you know, the gist of it is, is that how can I focus on my bad day when I'm serving people who have just experienced their worst day?
00:20:00
Speaker
So we are constantly pushing our own concerns, our own needs, our own wants aside because we're serving families who are in the midst of grief.
00:20:12
Speaker
And in the midst of the hardest time of their life.
00:20:17
Speaker
So we do not tend to ourselves and we do not care for ourselves.
00:20:23
Speaker
And burnout is a huge thing.
00:20:26
Speaker
And I'll just make this statement.
00:20:29
Speaker
I don't think the industry is going to survive much longer.
00:20:32
Speaker
I don't think the funeral industry as it exists today will survive too much longer.
00:20:38
Speaker
And it's going to have to reshape itself pretty drastically.
00:20:42
Speaker
But it's currently run by boomers and elder Gen Xers, millennials and Gen Z who have boundaries and who have values of self-care and want a healthy work-life balance.
00:20:58
Speaker
those people aren't going to stay.
00:21:00
Speaker
And so we have what we're currently seeing right now, where so many funeral homes are unable to retain staff and so many funeral homes are understaffed because they are unable to meet the needs of their staff.
00:21:16
Speaker
They're unable to understand the needs of their staff.
00:21:20
Speaker
And so I don't know what the future looks like.
00:21:23
Speaker
I don't
00:21:24
Speaker
I have an idea.
00:21:25
Speaker
I think it's going to become a lot more personalized.
00:21:28
Speaker
And the things that are fringe now are going to become much more popular.
00:21:35
Speaker
But the funeral industry as it exists, as an industry, I don't know that it will survive the millennials.
00:21:43
Speaker
It will survive the boomers dying.
00:21:45
Speaker
It'll survive Gen X dying, but it will not survive us.
00:21:50
Speaker
So we either adapt, which we're not good at, or die.
00:21:56
Speaker
And I think the current iteration of death care as an industry will die.
00:22:05
Speaker
And it will take longer in some places that are behind the bell curve.
00:22:11
Speaker
but it will happen very quickly in other places that aren't.
00:22:14
Speaker
And I think we're already starting to see that, where funeral homes that are avant-garde, that are attempting to be progressive, are recognizing these changes now and are putting things in place to adapt to them.
00:22:29
Speaker
But yeah, I don't know what the future holds with the funeral industry.
00:22:33
Speaker
I don't think it will survive much longer.
00:22:38
Speaker
That is some powerful words.
00:22:41
Speaker
And I don't disagree with you.
00:22:43
Speaker
I definitely think it is going to become more personalized.
00:22:46
Speaker
I think it's going to kind of become a bit more broken up in some senses, because I think which there's good and bad parts, I think, like everything when the Internet, you know, was born.
00:23:00
Speaker
with the good and it was great.
00:23:02
Speaker
In came the bad as well.
00:23:03
Speaker
Kids are glued to their phones nowadays and glued to their iPads.
00:23:06
Speaker
And, you know, I remember the days when it was, you know, are you bored?
00:23:10
Speaker
Go out and play.
00:23:11
Speaker
Go out and find someone.
00:23:13
Speaker
And I was just on Instagram.
00:23:15
Speaker
There was when I was two years of age, apparently I went, my dad was supposed to be looking after me and I went off looking for my mum.
00:23:21
Speaker
She was grocery shopping and I literally walked like half a mile or something to the supermarket.
00:23:27
Speaker
At two.
00:23:28
Speaker
Right.
00:23:28
Speaker
You know.
00:23:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:29
Speaker
There's the 80s in Ireland.
00:23:31
Speaker
So, I mean, I was.
00:23:32
Speaker
But thankfully I was fine.
00:23:33
Speaker
But, you know, we were just kind of saying how if that happened nowadays and a neighbor, a male neighbor family picked me up, brought me home.
00:23:40
Speaker
If that happened nowadays, he'd probably have been thrown in jail.
00:23:43
Speaker
But it's insane.
00:23:45
Speaker
Right?
00:23:45
Speaker
It's just bonkers.
00:23:47
Speaker
And so, you know, in with the good comes in with the bad, I always think.
00:23:52
Speaker
And so I do think like the rise of, quote, this person who, the rise of interlopers in the business, I think...
00:24:01
Speaker
In with the good comes with the bad as well.
00:24:04
Speaker
Right.
00:24:04
Speaker
So you've got these death doulas who are an incredible part of the chain, a bit like midwifery for when you're giving birth and having somebody there to hold your hand, especially when you don't have community and do it for you, having somebody that can kind of just make you feel OK and trust and comfort, transparency.
00:24:23
Speaker
But then, you know, there's some of these death doulas that are sort of tipping, tipping into the funeral space and tipping into the natural burial space.
00:24:32
Speaker
And so we're kind of a bit like what we talked about earlier, how life is cyclical.
00:24:37
Speaker
It's we are sort of coming back now to, you know, washing the bodies ourselves and, you know, what we used to do back in Ireland.
00:24:44
Speaker
And while I don't think there's a mad, going to be a mad rush for that, I do think it's interesting to have a bit what I touched on earlier about having options for everybody.
00:24:54
Speaker
There's a seat for everybody at the table.
00:24:56
Speaker
Okay, you're as a funeral home, you like to do traditional funerals.
00:25:00
Speaker
You're going to have your traditional people come to you and they're going to go through the alphabet and have everything.
00:25:06
Speaker
And then there's going to be the person who wants acclimation or the person who wants composting or the person who wants to throw a party when they die or the person who wants to have a mixture of all these different religions because you know what, they dipped into a little bit of everything when they were living.