One of our biggest goals at Eterneva is to lean in during hard times, to ask questions, to engage, to hold space for those things that give us grief, anxiety, and make us emotional.

“Start writing blog” was the calendar invite I received.

“What does this mean,” I wondered. I’m not on the marketing team, after all. My boss just said, “Ask around.”

The response?

Planning for the end of a life is among the most important and also the most difficult tasks we face, whether we are planning for our own or for a loved one. But this preparation for the ultimate loss is crucial.

When a loved one passes away unexpectedly, the grieving process changes drastically.

Pat Sullivan talks to people for a living. He is a senior tech support expert for T-Mobile, and has been for nearly 13 years. People call in with their problems, and Pat helps them find solutions.

Music is the first place so many people turn when grieving. It can be nostalgic, like playing your wedding song. It can be relieving, like screaming it out to punk rock in your car. It can be distracting, a couple minutes of a break from the deep work of grieving caused by loss.

He wasn’t the first. Before him was Arianna Huffington, and Melisse Gelula. But when Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri admitted to having anxiety on a podcast in December 2019, it felt important. After all, one of the biggest questions facing our always-connected era is “What is all of this doing to our mental health?”

Grief comes in many forms, and many of us will experience more than one type of grieving in our lives. It can be difficult to not feel guilty for our grief when we’re experiencing a kind of grief that isn’t acknowledged much, though.

Unlike traditional diamonds –– mined or lab-grown –– memorial diamonds are unique.

As humans, we like to characterize people by using a few key characteristics. It’s mentally easier when we classify a person. She was a “mother,” “daughter,” “wife,” “athlete,” “doctor,” “ADDICT.”

Mental health problems affect one in four of us. While conversations about mental health have been sprouting up more often on social media or even in Netflix series, there is still a strong and persistent resistance to talking about mental health –– especially your own.

Every November since 2011, Stephen Younger man participates in Susan G Komen’s 3-day, 60-mile walk.

Grief is an unavoidable part of life. No matter what you do, grief will find you.

Since our co-founders set out to pave a path of transparency and experience in the memorialization industry, we’ve made every effort to ensure that our product and process meets and exceeds a certain scientific standard.

“Birth is an opportunity, life is a blessing and death is a celebration.” ~ Andrew Mwangasa.

Pets are family, plain and simple. Like people, their impact on our lives can be profound. They help make us who we are, help us better understand ourselves, and help to cope and experience life’s myriad adventures, misfortunes, big moments, and small, meaningful events.

From July 18, 2018 well into the spring of 2019, a series of unfortunate events affected me, both directly and indirectly.

When I was 24, I moved to New York City with no plan. I found an apartment –– miraculously –– and lined up job interviews. Within weeks, I was employed as a writer for an online publication. Exactly what I wanted.

As with any specific type of grief, disenfranchised grief is a term used mostly by psychologists, in psychology classrooms, or maybe in a therapist’s office or on any of the new therapy apps (which are cool, and you should try them out!).

We talk a lot on this grief wellness blog about the multitude of ways to memorialize a favorite pet, to support our friends through the loss of a pet, and how to know when you’re pet is nearing that time.

Grief has shaped our modern culture in more ways than we think. The entire fashion industry as we know it holds roots in mourning dress dating back to the Victorian era.

🎶 Christmas just ain’t Christmas without the one you love. New Year’s just ain’t New Year’s without the one you love. 🎶

A question we’re often asked is, “Is there enough Carbon in ashes after cremation to use for the diamond process?” The answer is: “Yes, absolutely!”

As my mom and I walked through the woods in frigid temperatures, we began to chat about the loved ones we’ve lost throughout the last years.

Many of us go through life without thinking twice before we post photos on Facebook, retweet on Twitter, send emails, or listen to music. We sign up for email newsletters, give out our phone number to receive coupons, pay our bills electronically, and manage the details of our lives using apps.

In a recent episode of the NBC hospital drama New Amsterdam, a pregnant mother learns that her unborn child no longer has a heartbeat, and she must give birth to her daughter.

Like any other parent who finds themselves in the tragic situation of losing a child and being immediately inducted into the club that no parent wants to be a part of, I was in shock.

The turkey is hot out of the oven, potatoes are mashed, the table is set. You’re surrounded by loved ones at Thanksgiving dinner, and yet you somehow feel empty inside.

The dying well trend became better known in the United States and Canada in 2019 when the Global Wellness Institute –– a global wellness non-profit research organization –– announced it as a trend for the year.

My 2 year old baby cousin, Brady, died when I was 5 years old.

In early 2018, Eterneva co-founders Adelle Archer and Garrett Ozar set out to raise a seed round from strategic investors. The goal was to begin to bring the memorial diamond growth process in house –– build out a lab, hire aerospace engineers to accomplish the level of precision necessary, and begin to invite customers in so they could see the process in person.

Grief is complicated. And no, I’m not just talking about ‘complicated grief,’ which is a type of grief you can actually be diagnosed with.

Humans are great as storytelling and giving meaning to events. It’s what makes us the species we are. It is how our brains are wired.

Death rituals are well documented throughout history –– and around the world.

It’s Halloween season!

The pumpkins are out, many of them now turned jack-o-lanterns. The party invitations are out, whether it’s a themed adult party at a friend’s place or a block party for all the kids. Even the weather is out with temperatures dipping and the fall foliage picking up steam.

“Everything amazing about the universe exists within you, and the two of you are inseparable” - Carl Sagan

My grandmother was 97 and our family knew she was nearing the end of her life. She lived a full and relatively healthy life. However, that didn’t mean there was an easy way to say goodbye to someone that’s been with me since day one.

The end of life is something few talk about, yet is one of the most universal truths we all live with. We will die, whether we like it or not.

When Annie Horton was pregnant with her third child in 2015, she had a sense early on that something wasn’t right.

The loss of a pet is one of the most difficult things imaginable to me. It’s losing a family member, with the same profound effects and maybe more.

I am a child of Katrina. Fifteen years ago, this was my life:

The rainbow bridge is such a nice thought and idea, but no one wants to see their beloved pet, their best friend, their furry friend stroll across it.

It began in 2013 –– what some credit to be the beginning of the death wellness movement later declared a global wellness movement (“Dying Well”) by the Global Wellness Institute in 2019.

I’ve spent a lot of my life traveling for business and pleasure. I even co-owned a retreat company that designed group trips to Bali, Indonesia—so understand the richness travel brings life.

Let’s just get one thing out of the way: I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I don’t necessarily consider myself a risk-taker, but I am someone who likes to metaphorically look over the edge, as long as there’s a good handhold to grab.

National Grandparents Day was conceived by Marian McQuade, after helping to organize a community celebration for those over 80 in 1956.

We prepare for birth so thoroughly. New parents, family, and friends read books, buy gifts, prepare for the new life that is about to be. It’s a long preparation process –– oftentimes beginning even before the pregnancy itself.

As the thoughts of your life together surface, your vision blurs and the tension in your chest becomes unbearable. You gasp for air.

Life is better with dogs. Not only because they are adorable weirdos, but because they make their pet parents happier and healthier, and research proves it.

When I first ask Jacob to sit with me over coffee at the Eterneva offices to chat about his late pet Miss Piggy, we have to reschedule a couple times.

When a loved one passes, it’s traditional in the United States to have a funeral or memorial service of some sort.

At the age of 30, Glenn Lord was a hard-charging executive, climbing the corporate ladder with the goal of running a Fortune 500 company. Then his son, Noah, died from complications during a tonsillectomy, and everything changed.

Periodically I’m asked if the death of a pet is just like losing a human loved one. I used to answer that with, “Yes. It’s just as bad.”

When you get the news that a loved one is ill and the prognosis isn’t great, there’s no right way to react.

I lost my mom when I was 11 to a tragic accident.

Cremation rates in the U.S. are on the rise. By 2030, experts estimate that more than 70% of Americans will be cremated.

I received an email the other day from someone subscribed to our weekly newsletter. Earlier that day, I had sent our most recent article –– one about how a woman ultimately healed and transformed her life to honor her father’s legacy, a full decade after he passed somewhat unexpectedly.

I’d love to say I grew up in a normal American environment in Austin, Texas, yet what is really normal? I guess it was kind of like a fairy tale.

In the U.S., cremation now makes up for more than 53% of all post-funeral plans. In some states, like Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, and Hawaii, cremation rates are higher than 72%.

Pet ownership has taken a drastic change over the past fifteen years. Pets have gone from the barnyard to the back yard, from the back yard to the back porch, from the back porch to the living room.

Loyalty. It’s a word that gets thrown around so often these days that is hardly means much anymore.

The past couple of years of working with families to memorialize their remarkable loved ones has taught me a lot about grief. I’ve seen and engaged with every kind of loss – from the loss of a parent, to a spouse, to a child. From expected loss to sudden loss.

Today, we are so excited to announce that Eterneva has taken on our very first round of funding, bringing in an additional $1.2 million to build out what we are calling Experience Innovation to change cultural relationship with and conversation about grief, one loss at a time.

Turning ashes to diamonds is about a remarkable person. A person you’ll remember forever. Someone who deserves fireworks, and a million floating lanterns, and their name written in the stars!

Father’s Day is a difficult time for those who have lost their dads. Social media floods with pictures of happy families, funny and beautiful memories, and current plans.

What comes to mind when you hear the words cemetery, casket, or grave? Probably not rainbows and kittens… For me, those words have a very sad, dark, and honestly depressing connotation to them.

Only moments after Phil walked into a stranger’s home for an event in 2011, he was experiencing full blown deja vu.

Editor’s Note: The goal of this article and YouTube interview with Jeff Hoffman, a serial entrepreneur, academic innovator, and motivational speaker, is to encourage dad’s and their children to get curious, open up, and talk about life experiences and their emotional connections to the people we’ve become.

PetCon is an annual influencer pet conference hosting a celebrity lineup similar to Coachella’s, if you’re an animal lover, that is.

Often throughout the year, I like to take the time to really appreciate family and friends, and better connect with the things in my life that bring me joy, happiness and well-being.

“My mom would go to my dad’s gigs and she’d dance,” says Chelsea Lonon as thought back on the memory of her dad’s love of music and her mom’s unconditional love and support for his passion.*

There is an upswing in the end of life industry happening right now.

I often wonder about what future generations will see when they look back at our time. I’m a writer after all. It’s in my bones to think about audiences, even those not yet born.

“What do you do?” You hear it on a weekly basis, whether you’re at a party, having a drink at a bar, at a baby shower or standing in line at the DMV.