Regrets of the Dying shows a raw, honest side, to what people might be thinking at the end

There’s a famous line that goes something like this, “on their deathbed, no one ever wished they had spent more time at the office”.  It’s likely you can fill “office” in with a whole smattering of things, but, the point is all the same.  When you reach the end of life what will you be wishing you had most not done?

Or what regrets will you have, if any?

It’s a common tale but told not as raw as Bronnie Ware does in her post, “Regrets of the Dying”.    Bronnie is from Australia and is a storyteller, musician, activist and caregiver.    And she has quite a story to tell in this post.   An exerpt:

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

I don’t want to spoil this for you. Her post is way to good and, frankly, she’ll make you think. And that’s a good thing.

You can read Bronnie’s full post over at her blog, “Inspiration and Chi“