We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Taylor Bell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Taylor below.

Taylor, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My mom completely changed my view of death and dying. Prior to her death, I had only seen the dying process within the confines of a hospital, and even that was limited. It was as though the dying person were hidden away, left to do their dying quietly and out of plain sight.
When my mom received a terminal diagnosis (after evading adrenal cancer several times), she approached it like she did everything in life – head on with a positive attitude, and more concerned for the people in her life than herself.
She immediately ensured her legal paperwork was up-to-date and made arrangements for her celebration of life ceremony. She continued to work with her therapist, even having me in on a session so I had the opportunity to express anything that hadn’t yet been said. We went on a final road trip Eureka Springs.
Then she got herself set up with hospice and got down to the business of giving away possessions as people came to visit, as well as making her apartment a suitable place in which she could die.
In her final days, she was set up on her couch in her living room, constantly surrounded by family and close friends, music and conversation. She was in no way hidden away. She was front and center, showing everyone involved that dying is very much a part of life, and something worth witnessing.
That entire experience taught me so much; the many choices we actually do have when we’re approaching death, the gift we can give the people we leave behind by having our affairs in order and our wishes outlined, and the opportunity death can give us to support one another in a deeply meaningful way. I’m forever grateful for it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I created The Art of Dying alongside my good friend and business partner, Lacy Buynak. We are end-of-life planners and death doulas that focus on support, celebration, and companionship through the end-of-life. We encourage people to get a head start on their end-of-life plans by offering guidance and education on how to best prepare themselves. For those who are at the end of their life, we help them wrap up their legal and logistical to-dos, plan celebrations, and/or offer comfort and care by way of our holistic services and companionship, including sitting vigil. As for caretakers and loved ones, we offer support as a sounding board and confidant, as well as a curated list of resources for additional assistance. We believe the dying process has the potential to be a meaningful expression that is unique to each individual. By taking ownership of this process as much as possible, we are able to transform the way we live and connect with others.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met Lacy in hair school in the fall of 2001. We were doing some sort of ice-breaker exercise during the first week, and she mentioned a very obscure band that I was also really into. So I knew she and I should be friends. We quickly took to one another, and started hanging out and routinely taking road trips to Austin. During said road trips, we would always stop for two things; carnivals and cemeteries, as each of us had an innate pull towards things that were both celebratory and solemn. We had no idea this was foreshadowing all that was to come.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I actually had chosen a different profession and then switched to death work when I saw the opportunity, and the need. In our Western culture, death has been largely removed from our everyday life. So much is focused on persevering, not ‘giving up’, not struggling, etc. that there is a hesitancy to even broach the subject of death. In light of that, we want to offer ways for people to talk about it, think about it, plan for it, and eventually, experience it. As we often point out, the fact that we are all going to die one day is the single thing that everybody on this earth has in common. There’s something beautiful in that, and we hope to help others see that, too.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theartofdyingfw.com
• Instagram: @theartofdyingfw
• Facebook: The Art of Dying FW

Image Credits
IMG_0216 – Krystal Peterson