My regrets
Oct. 2nd, 2010 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bex77A doctor friend on Facebook posted an article last week called
"Top Five Regrets of Dying"
http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-Five-Regrets-of-the-Dying&id=3268063&ref=nf
It was quite upbeat, despite the title. Written by Bonnie Ware, a hospice worker from Australia, about what people said they regret as they talked to her when they had "gone home to die." With my dad on death's door, I am thinking more about such deep thoughts than usual.
Here is her list:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
(Follow your dreams)
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
I have chased many of my dreams and watched them come true. I downshifted seven years ago from the life-sucking job to have time for other things. I tell people regularly how I feel about them. How much I appreciate their work and their presence in my life. I am notorious about keeping up with people. And I try very hard to allow myself to be happy.
I am still working on aspects of these, and can definitely do more. But on the whole, I think my regrets will not be these. Not sure what they will be when I'm on death's door. But I want to remember this idea and keep at it, so that I can be like my dad, who told the doctor, "I've had a good life."
"Top Five Regrets of Dying"
http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-Five-Regrets-of-the-Dying&id=3268063&ref=nf
It was quite upbeat, despite the title. Written by Bonnie Ware, a hospice worker from Australia, about what people said they regret as they talked to her when they had "gone home to die." With my dad on death's door, I am thinking more about such deep thoughts than usual.
Here is her list:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
(Follow your dreams)
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
I have chased many of my dreams and watched them come true. I downshifted seven years ago from the life-sucking job to have time for other things. I tell people regularly how I feel about them. How much I appreciate their work and their presence in my life. I am notorious about keeping up with people. And I try very hard to allow myself to be happy.
I am still working on aspects of these, and can definitely do more. But on the whole, I think my regrets will not be these. Not sure what they will be when I'm on death's door. But I want to remember this idea and keep at it, so that I can be like my dad, who told the doctor, "I've had a good life."
