If You Knew the End Was Coming

Would you change anything about today? Looking at the top five regrets of the dying (and how to live so we don’t carry them too).

Photo by Randy Tarampi on Unsplash.

There’s a book I came across a while back called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware, a nurse who spent years sitting with people at the end of their lives.

Over time, she began to notice patterns — repeated thoughts and reflections from those who were just about to step through the veil. The regrets weren’t about missed meetings or financial mistakes. They weren’t about not working hard enough or not buying a bigger house.

They were personal. Emotional. Deeply human reflections of they stories they told with their time on Earth.

Here’s the list, in case you’ve never come across it:

“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.”