The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying

What do you want?

Pulse for a second to think about it.

Many people don’t have that clarity.

It’s uncomfortable to be in the space of ‘I don’t know,’ yet it can be the beginning of a deeper understanding of self.

One thing that’s easier is to know what we don’t want.

When we flip them, we get a good sense of what we do want (like magic 😉).

I can’t think of a better way to learn about what we don’t want than reading ‘The Top 5 regrets of the Dying,’ a book written by Bronnie Ware.

The top 5 regrets of the dying are:

  1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me
  2. I wish I hadn’t worked 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 I had let myself be happier

When I read the book 9 years ago, I checked all of them.

Ouch! The realization really hurt. (And it’s such a wake-up call)

I was working at a corporate job, feeling unfulfilled and unhappy.

Back then, I didn’t even know—all these regrets were there because of my choices!

In other words, I created my regrets, which means I can also make different choices.

Since then, I embarked on a long journey of making choices that are more aligned with who I want to be.

It’s simple but not easy, and I will share more about this in my future post.

In my next post, I’ll dive into the first regret and how I have evolved in the past 9 years.

How many regrets might you see yourself having if you don’t do anything?

What stands out the most for you?

Love,

Wen

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