For eight years, Bronnie Ware was an in-home caregiver who looked after people who were dying. Her clients knew they were severely ill, and most were in the last three to 12 weeks of their lives.
But Ware gradually realized that the most important role she was playing was not physical, but emotional. She was there to listen, and she catalogued those intimate reflections her book, “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.”
In their last days, many of her patients shared with her their regrets. The most common answer, according to Ware, was: “I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
“It is very important to try and honor at least some of your dreams along the way before it is too late,” she writes. “Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.”
As a psychologist, this is something I see all the time with my patients. I always tell them that to boost my happiness and stop the clock on regret, I work on developing an appreciation for time.
Why time is the most valuable resource we have
In the daily grind, it’s easy to fall out of alignment with what is most important to you.
But living with an awareness of our own mortality fundamentally changes what we value and how we choose to use our time. It unmasks the frivolous, empty pursuits our culture often validates.
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