For years, palliative care provider Bronnie Ware helped people who were nearing the end of their life’s journeys. Her work included conversations with them about what regrets they had carried into their later years. These shared epiphanies led Ware to write a blog post that went viral and an eventual book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing(2012). Here are the top five regrets, as drawn from Ware’s conversations:

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 didn’t work 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”; and,
5. “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”

She explains each of these points in greater detail in this blog post. Her book, which I highly recommend, delves even deeper in this topic.

I wrote about Ware’s work back in 2011. Since then, I’ve traveled from my early 50s to my late 50s, and — my oh my — her words resonate even more strongly with me today.

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Five years after publishing her book, she shared on her blog “Five Things I Have Learned Since Five Regrets” (link here):

1. “Courage is the greatest tool for bringing our dreams into reality”;
2. “Surrender is much more effective than striving or forcing”;
3. “Our dreams require us to triumph over upper-limits”;
4. “Self-care is crucial for an authentic life”; and,
5. “Real life connections are the essence of joy.”

Her full blog piece fleshes out her points and is definitely worth a read.

Great life lessons here. Gifts from those who have preceded us.

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Cross-posted with my “Minding the Workplace” professional blog.