How do I cope with people flinching at my job?

You do work that everyone will one day need, and yet people pull back the moment you name it. That flinch is lonely, because it happens at the exact moment you are trying to be known. It can make you feel set apart from ordinary conversation, carrying something others would rather not look at. Their discomfort is not about you. It is about death, which frightens most people, so they turn away from anyone who stands close to it. You are not being rejected. You are standing near the one thing they are least ready to face. Once you see it that way, the flinch stops feeling like a verdict on you. Still, you need people who do not look away. Find others in your line of work, or friends who can hear about your days without changing the subject. And take quiet pride in this: you do a hard, necessary thing with dignity, for families at their worst hour. Few could. The world flinches, but it also depends on you. Let that be enough on the lonely days.