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An experienced hospice nurse has explained what she believes 'really happens' when we pass away.
Hospice Nurse Julie has gathered a massive following on social media for speaking openly about the stigmas around death and end-of-life care, hoping to normalise the concept.
The American content creator is known for highlighting phenomena such as the 'death rattle' and other 'earlier stages' of dying that patients go through.
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With 1.7 million followers on TikTok alone, the healthcare professional has also written a book which teaches people about what happens during the end-of-life journey.
But now, she has taken to YouTube to explain what she thinks happens to us after we die, having gone into the details about what our body may experience, she has shifted the focus to what happens spiritually and mentally.
Opening the video with her own beliefs, Julie explained: "I believe we are all going to a place that feels more like home than here ever could."
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Stating that she didn't want to 'push her belief' onto viewers, she simply shared what she believes in as people ask her 'all the time'.
"I don't fear it [an afterlife] because it feels to me like I'm going to go back to a place that I've always known and the more times I've watched someone take their last breath, the more and more I believe this to be true," the professional admitted.
The hospice nurse claimed that death and birth 'almost feel the same' to her, explaining: "I believe the baby is coming from where we come from and the person dying is going back to where we come from, so to me it's not a place like we have to get into, it's a place that we come from."
She added that when she does pass on, she'll say: "'Thank God, thank God I'm back' and then I'm going to be like 'Why'd you keep me there so long, why'd you leave me there so long?'"
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Julie went on to claim that she feels we aren't actually in our 'true home', as there is 'somewhere we need to get back to', and 'once we get there, we will remember all of that'.
"It won't feel scary, it'll just feel peaceful and beautiful and lovely and I don't believe you have to believe in a certain thing to get there," she added, even saying that you don't necessarily need 'to believe' to get there.
"It's not a place to 'get into' or a belief to follow. I think it is just what it is," Julie said, before noting: "I know I could be wrong and if I'm wrong, that's OK too."
As an example of why she isn't worried, the end-of-life specialist recalled the time she was close to a patient who was dying and went to see him.
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"I went to go see him right before he died, I could tell he would die that day and I said my goodbyes to him in my head and made peace with his death - I was happy for him," she recalled.
But then, after the healthcare expert got into her car, she remembered: "I said my final goodbye in my car before I turned it on to go to my next patient and all of a sudden, I could hear his voice and I could feel these feelings.
"The feelings that I frequently feel, that feel of what I would think the afterlife would feel like."
Summing it up, Julie said it was 'comfort', 'joy' and 'exuberance', which brought a smile to her face and made her believe that we are bound to go to a better place.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.
