I came across that Grauniad article a few weeks ago, via LifeHacker on Twitter, and have been thinking about it ever since. Well, sort of thinking about it, in the sense that it might provoke a bit of stimulating conversation over here at casa az. I mean, it’s not ALL about cats and tapas, is it?
Or is it?
You see, I did find the article interesting as it is said to be based on findings of a palliative nurse called Bronnie Ware who recorded her findings on the most common regrets of the dying. And she even wrote a book about it.
Apparently the top five regrets of the dying are as follows:
- 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.
And apparently by reading other people’s dying regrets we should be able to “learn from their wisdom” and save ourselves from the same fate. Well, this is where it all falls apart for me. What wisdom? And learn what exactly? I don’t like those “what if you were going to die today…?” questions because NOBODY other than people who are actually about to die today could ever properly answer them. And given that they would be going through the business of dying it’s unlikely they’d be interested in taking part in a questionnaire.
But then the Guardian article asks the following question…
What’s your greatest regret so far, and what will you set out to achieve or change before you die?
That seems a fair enough question. Up for it?
casa azahar 