There is no happy way to bid someone you love a final farewell.

At best, it’s a melancholy affair; at worst, it’s a heartbreaking loss from which you’re sure you can never recover.

Consolation can feel impossible after the loss of someone dear to you. While you know, deep down, that death is an integral part of life, a piece of you goes wherever your loved ones do, and when they pass, the piece goes with them.

Without death, room for new growth would never be made. Progress forward can’t happen without losses from the past. From every farewell, there comes a new hello.

These are among the multitude of wise lessons to be learned from a person in the last leg of their life—either directly from their words, or merely through their experiences. Knowing how to approach the situation as a learning experience will help you move through the process and maintain your own life.

Hindsight, and why it’s wrong

Any of us who’ve been at the bedside of someone we care dearly for while they move from this world to the next knows a few things:

1. The dying have regrets that make us question our own
2. Vicinity to sickness creates hyper-awareness of our own health
3. You always wish it were you on that bed, and not them

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