Planning your funeral sendoff makes sense at any age and takes the burden off your surviving family.

No one talks about their imminent death. Death is that taboo most people tuck under the rug and pretend isn't there. Death is shunned. Death is he-who-shall-not-be-named. Death – well it happens, whether you want it to or not.

One day we all end up taking the dirt nap, kicking the bucket, or fertilizing the lawn as we take a one-way ticket to our afterlife. Death, unlike most things in life, is not picky – it does not discriminate between who lives and who dies. There is no age cap on death, so why should we feel the need to wait until we are older before pre-planning our own sendoffs?

At the age of 17, Alex Lewis was diagnosed with bone cancer. Not wanting to live his life based on his illness, within the span of three years, Lewis accomplished a lifetime's worth of achievements – travelling the world, sky-diving, meeting and marrying the love of his life.

Despite knowing that any day could be his last, Lewis spoke openly and non-nonchalantly of his desire to be cremated and for his ashes to be scattered across Craven Cottage  (a football stadium in London, England). He wanted his family to remember him for who he was and for the accomplishments he had achieved. Shortly before his death at 22, he told his family that regardless of his debilitating disease, he had lived a full-life.

While Lewis knew his time was short, many people take for granted that planning ahead and informing family members of final wishes, is beneficial in the grieving process. Daily, stories of men and women in the prime of their lives are subject to unforeseeable accidents, or suffer sudden illnesses which cut their lives short. Hindsight is only 20/20 after all. But what if you wanted to be buried, what if you wanted to be cremated or have your ashes scattered across a sentimental park? Who would know if you haven't told anyone?

Often people assume that this is covered in the will, but few know that a will is only an inventory list of the assets of your estate. There are no legal documents that stipulate how one's body is to be disposed of or whether a particular song or prayer be recited. Often times, this is a decision chosen by family members when a funeral director presents them with these options. But those personal touches, favorite music, memorabilia and particular clothing are making their way into the funeral industry's ever-evolving market place.

People want something memorable, something emotionally lifting, something personal, and whether you are 18 or 78. Despite being healthy, fit, or safety conscious, pre-planning your own sendoff is an opportunity to share with your family a way of personalizing a ceremony dedicated to the life you lived.