💭 Regrets of the dying

Hello,

I write this email every week as someone who is interested in becoming a better person and sharing what I learn as I go along.

But what about learning from those who have lived my lifetime several times over?

That’s exactly what palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware set out to do as she recorded the final thoughts of the her dying patients.

Writing them as a blog post, and then into a full book, Bronnie was fascinated by the clarity and freedom of judgement that those looking death in the face were able to experience.

And more importantly, she found that similar themes appeared across many of her interviewees.

So, here are the 5 regrets of the dying - and don’t forget to subscribe (one click).

💭 5 Regrets of the Dying

🙏🏻 I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most commonly cited regret - many found it easy to spot the missed opportunities of their lives as they neared the end.

😓 I wish I hadn’t worked so hard

Focusing on career progression over spending time with family and friends was a regret of every single male Bronnie interviewed.

💬 I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings

Unsaid words, thoughts and feelings that ultimately led to a middle-of-the-road existence, far from achieving true self-identity or meaning. Many health defects formed as a result of not letting these feelings be shared and the bitterness and resentment that resulted.

📞 I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends

Relationships - creating, cultivating, repairing and maintaining them - is a skill. Some are good, some are bad. Often Bronnie’s patients would look back in regret at letting their strongest relationships slip as they focused on the day to day of their own lives. “Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.”

☀️ I wish that I had let myself be happier

Happiness is a choice. Sticking with old patterns and habits - status quo syndrome - meant pretending to be happy with the way things were when really, all they wanted was change.

In case you want to copy them down into a note, here they are list form:

🙏🏻 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

How many strike a nerve with you? What regrets have you formed? What will you do differently?

This week I'm: ⬇️

❄️ Looking forward to a trip to Poland next week 🗻

🎨 Checking out these cool paintings by Norman Rockwell, a painter and illustrator from New York. Here’s one of his most famous paintings, ‘Triple Self-portrait’:

📺 Watching The Last of Us - WOW

📹 Also watching this cool video of a pepper growing from a seed 🌶

📖 Reading A Dance With Dragons - book 5 in A Song of Ice and Fire. The best book in the series in my humble oopinion

🍺 Resharing last week’s email - the first version of my new series, 30 DAY PROJECT where I try out a recommendation from the world of health, happiness and self-development for a month to figure out if it really is worth doing. In January I did the infamous Dry Jan and recorded some of my thoughts, the pros and the cons and whether I’d recommend it myself. Take a look if you missed it!

💬 And finally, a quote

Thanks!

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In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and have a look at what I’m reading on Goodreads.

📸 BONUS: Photo of the Week