Regrets When Dying

People change when they are faced with their own mortality.  They experience a variety of emotions as they seek peace with their life and their death.

There seems to be a common theme to the regrets they have:

I wish I didn’t work so hard.  A lot of men feel that they missed their children’s youth and didn’t play with their family enough.

I wish I’d had the courage to live the life I dreamed about.  At the end people think of the dreams they didn’t pursue and with the loss of their health, it is too late.

I wish I’d express my feelings more.  Sometimes we are so worried about keeping the peace with others that we settle for a mediocre existence.

I wish I had kept up my friendships.  It’s so easy to get caught up in our busy lives and let our friendships slip away.  In the end love and friendship is the only thing that matters,  but ill health can make you too weary to get in touch with old friends.

I wish I had been more positive and happy.  Sometimes the so called “comfort” of keeping everything the same can be a trap.  Fear of change makes you pretend to be happy while deep inside you long to try something new and perhaps be a little bit silly just for the fun of it.