End-of-Life Planning: What No One Tells You Until It’s Too Late with Alua Arthur

Alive with Steve Burns

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture

5.0 • 588 Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, Steven talks with death doula Alua Arthur about how to prepare for the end of life before it becomes an emergency, and why doing so is one of the most generous things you can do for the people you love. They walk through what end-of-life planning actually entails: wills, advance directives, healthcare proxies, power of attorney, medical decisions, and how to have these conversations with your family before a crisis forces them. Alua breaks down what matters most, what’s often misunderstood, and where people tend to get stuck. This grounded, honest conversation about mortality also explores grief, regret, family dynamics, and why so many end-of-life choices are made for the comfort of the living rather than the wishes of the dying. Alua explains how you can find peace from planning, break through this award subject with loved ones, and maybe even live life a little more mindfully. ** if you like this episode, then check out these ** What is Dying https://youtu.be/DXMdWpFTNhY Why Money Stresses Us Out https://youtu.be/-F7hR9k4EiI ——————————————— Alive with Steve Burns - Season One Episode 18 | Alua Arthur Instagram: @alivewithsteveburns TikTok: @alivewithsteveburns ———————————————— Exclusive Offers For Our Listeners: BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/stevealive. Hero Bread is offering 10% off your order. Go to hero.co and use code STEVE at checkout. Check out Little Saints and discover your Magic Hour. Visit littlesaints.com and use code ALIVE to get 15% Off Your First Order. Go to drinkag1.com/alive to get their best offer. That’s 3 FREE AG1 Travel Packs and 3 FREE AGZ Travel Packs, plus FREE Vitamin D3+K2 and an AG1 Welcome Kit with your first AG1 subscription order! Go to Midea.com to see how you can bring home a little wow today. Watch full episodes of Alive on YouTube. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. If you haven’t yet, now is a great time to subscribe to Lemonada Premium. You’ll get ad-free episodes and bonus content from Steve. Just hit the 'subscribe' button on Apple Podcasts, or, for all other podcast apps head to lemonadapremium.com to subscribe. Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Lemonada.
0:06.6	Thinking through all the potential options for what you want done with your body after you die.
0:10.9	And then your service.
0:12.2	Do you want a funeral?
0:13.1	Do you want a memorial service?
0:14.4	Do you want a viewing?
0:15.7	Do you want a visitation?
0:17.1	Do you want to be embalmed?
0:18.9	Why are you making that face?
0:20.4	People get embalmed? Why are you making that face? People get embalmed?
0:22.9	Yeah.
0:24.6	Wow.
0:48.5	Hey, hi. It's great to see you. Come on in. Welcome to Alive. Okay. Speaking of Alive,
0:58.6	you remember the very first podcast episode we ever did? It was about death, right? Remember Julie McFadden,
1:07.5	who was awesome? And we talked about my dog, my dad, and angels. And she said that we die how we lived and that blew my mind
1:10.9	and at the end of that episode I asked you
1:12.9	if we know we're going to die
1:16.0	but we don't know when
1:17.9	how do we live
1:19.8	right
1:20.6	have you been thinking about that
1:24.6	at all
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lemonada Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lemonada Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.