As the New Year creeps up on us, a lot of people start to take stock of the last year and their lives. Last year, I watched an interview with Bronnie Ware, author of “The Top Five Regrets of the Dearly Departing” that really stuck with me.
Bronnie worked in palliative care and she spent eight years listening, learning and journaling about what she gained. In the end, writes about five common regrets of the people she cared for:
- 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.
In the end, what will you regret? Will it be that you didn't have the perfect house or that you weren't the perfect weight? Or will it be that you didn't have the relationship with yourself and others that you longed for?
This year when you are taking stock of 2016, and adding 2017's 'to do list,' I would challenge you to think about the wishes of those that have gone before us.