What being around death taught this hospital chaplain about life December 30, 202511:24 AM ET By Marielle Segarra , Malaka Gharib Hanna Barczyk for NPR About a year into his job as an interfaith chaplain at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Fla., J.S. Park began to have what he calls "really awful death anxiety." Life Kit How to talk about death and dying How to talk about death and dying Listen 25:00 25:00 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed iframe src"https:www.npr.orgplayerembednx-s1-5648340nx-s1-mx-5648340-1" width"100" height"290" frameborder"0" scrolling"no" title"NPR embedded audio player" Transcript NPR Life Kit LISTEN FOLLOW NPR App Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music iHeart Radio YouTube Music RSS link "I saw all the ways people could be injured, especially working at a trauma center," he says.

When he was around his wife and kids, he'd think, "this could be the last time that I get to hear their laughter and see their faces like this," he says. Over time, that "death anxiety" transformed into something else: an appreciation for the present moment, says Park, who often writes about this topic on his Instagram.

"When death is on the forefront of your mind, it's almost like life gains this richer texture." J.S. Park is a hospital chaplain and the author of As Long As You Need: Permission to Grieve .

Hoon Park hide caption toggle caption Hoon Park Death is often an uncomfortable and even shocking topic for many people. But in his 10 years as a hospital chaplain a job that Park describes as "a cross between a priest and a therapist" he's learned that talking about it can help prepare us for the reality that "it could happen, at any moment, to any of us." Park, author of As Long As You Need: Permission to Grieve, talks to Life Kit about what dying actually looks like and what Hollywood gets wrong about a patient's final moments.