Need To Talk About Death (No Really)

“Need To Talk About Death (No Really)” is a reflective, personal essay arguing that death is a subject people avoid, even though it becomes harder to ignore in midlife. The writer says that when life is busy, mortality stays out of view, but as age approaches it returns “in the peripheral vision.” They reject euphemisms and cite cultural references, including Captain James T. Kirk’s line in Star Trek II about how dealing with death matters as much as dealing with life, and Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal as an example of facing death rather than pretending it isn’t there. The piece frames recent personal crises as a catalyst for renewed thought about meaning and how life connects to death, while noting different ways people cope, such as faith or scientific rationality.