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The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying.

A nonscientific compilation by a palliative care nurse, Bronnie Ware, who cared for dying people. These were the top 5 regrets expressed by her dying patients. Ware has written a book regarding her experiences. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying - A Life Transformed by the Dearl...

"I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
I wish that I had let myself be happier."

"Show and tell" here... Damn.... I already wish I don't have to work so hard, and wish I would let myself be happier. How does one do that? I already ask if it's too late. I've gotten into too much trouble for expressing myself, so not sure what to do with that one. We have to get by in our work-life and community, and sometimes that means holding back. I've had to compartmentalize. There have been times when there was no one to depend on except me, and I knew if I didn't work very hard, I would not get by. So I did. And do. As for the friends... too many died back then. And I changed, a lot. Can't keep in touch with those.

One thing that was especially moving, "All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence." Damn, that's me.

So how to change that? I don't know. You? Same regrets? Not? This is our one life.

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Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on February 8, 2012 at 11:40pm

It's not too late. I was a late bloomer. Sometimes you make up for lost time. I like your final sentence. I've sometimes used the opposite, stating something to the effect that, on my death bed, I doubt that I'll be trying to log on to complete more paperwork for work.