Biggest Regrets at End of Life

11/09/2021

Biggest Regrets at End of Life

Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.
Mary Oliver, poet

Bronnie Ware is an Australian author, songwriter and motivational speaker who wrote a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, based on what she heard from patients during her time providing palliative care.

She presents these five regrets in the hope that people will avoid them while they are still able:

"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 had the courage to express my feelings."
"I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends."
"I wish I had let myself be happier."

In the Out of the Box Kit, "Honoring the Essential Self," based on an article by Ruth Wilson, the author urges early educators to help children connect with their essential self from an early age (see regret number one above):

"Behaviors of the essential self tend to be inventive and spontaneous, reflecting the uniqueness of the individual. For one young child, this might mean using her arms to fly like an eagle across the yard. For another child, this might mean wanting to use flowers to make a crown. For one child, this might mean sitting quietly to observe a beetle…Unless young children are supported in the development of their essential self, a part of their unique spirit and personality tends to be squashed."

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