The Top Five Regrets of the Dying explained

The Top Five Regrets of the Dying - A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing is a 2011 book by Bronnie Ware inspired by her time in palliative care.

Background

Ware first shared the insights in a 2009 blog post, "Regrets of the Dying".[1] [2] The blog post was widely shared worldwide and by 2012 had been read by eight million people.[3]

In 2012 Ware expanded her blog post into a book memoir, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, which was translated into 27 languages.[4]

Top five regrets of the dying

According to Bronnie Ware, the five most common regrets shared by people nearing death were:[5]

  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 that I had let myself be happier."

A 2018 study reached similar conclusions, finding that people were more likely to express "ideal-related regrets", such as failing to follow their dreams and live up to their full potential.[6] [7]

References

  1. Web site: Ware . Bronnie . Regrets of the Dying . Inspiration and Chai . 31 January 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100310205804/http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html . 10 March 2010.
  2. Web site: Bronnie Ware: Beyond the 5 Regrets of the Dying . Good Life Project . 31 January 2019.
  3. News: Khaleeli . Homa . Writing Top Five Regrets of the Dying has brought me to tears . 31 January 2019 . The Guardian . 16 November 2014.
  4. News: Moulder . Anna . A beautiful time for Bronnie . 31 January 2019 . ABC New England North West NSW . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 10 October 2012 . en-AU.
  5. Web site: Ware . Bronnie . Regrets of the Dying . Bronnie Ware . 31 January 2019 . 7 January 2018.
  6. Davidai . Shai . Gilovich . Thomas . The ideal road not taken: The self-discrepancies involved in people's most enduring regrets. . Emotion . April 2018 . 18 . 3 . 439–452 . 10.1037/emo0000326 . 31 January 2019. In her book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, Bonnie [sic] Ware, a palliative nurse, compiled the regrets most often expressed by patients nearing the ends of their lives (Ware, 2013). Although anecdotal, her observations are in line with our hypothesis. The most commonly cited regret mentioned by Ware's patients was, "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.".
  7. News: Pawlowski . Agnes . The most haunting regrets aren't about the things we've done, research finds . 31 January 2019 . TODAY.com . NBC Universal . 8 June 2018 . en.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying".

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