Hospice nurses reveal 24 regrets people have when they know they're going to die
Have you ever wished you knew what you might regret later in life so that you can act upon them now?
We’ve always been so invested in the regrets of those who have little time left, and there have been plenty of those spoken about online to keep us in check with our life’s path.
But did you know that there are a lot more regrets than you’d expect people to have?
A motivational speaker and author called Matthew Kelly explained exactly what people tend to say when they are dying, and that these twenty-four things could be prevented if you act on them before your time comes.
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He explained in his short video uploaded to YouTube that he had ‘asked hospice nurses’ what their patients typically say to them is their biggest regret in life, and while you might normally expect a couple to be universally said by people of all walks of life, twenty-four things sprang to mind of those in the end stages of their lives.
These things were that people wished they’d ‘had the courage to just be myself’, or that they had ‘spent more time with the people I love’ before getting to this point.
While others wished they ‘had made spirituality more of a priority’, others regretted spending too much time working instead of doing other things they enjoyed.
Similarly, there were those who regretted not discovering their ‘purpose’ earlier, and others were left sad that they hadn’t learned how to ‘express’ their feelings more.
Kelly claimed that the hospice nurses shared how patients told them that they wished they ‘hadn’t spent so much time worrying about things that never happened’ or that they wished they ‘had taken more risks’ and ‘cared less about what other people thought’.
There were those who wanted to have a different perspective, wishing they ‘had realized earlier that happiness is a choice’ or that they had ‘loved more’ and ‘taken better care’ of themselves or been a ‘better spouse’ to their loved one.
Some people who were dying also wished they had ‘had paid less attention to other people’s expectations’ or had quit their job and gone on to do something they loved to do.
There were people who regretted not staying in touch with old pals, or wished they had instead spoken up more instead of keeping quite.
Patients regretted chasing the wrong things in life, or not having as many children as they had hoped for, or even not pondering life’s big questions earlier in life.
Some went on to regret not touching enough people’s lives, or that they hadn’t traveled more, didn’t live in the moment, or pursue most of their dreams.
Those lengthy regrets are some that you might recognise, and Kelly shared that while ‘some people think it’s morbid to think about death’, he disagrees.
He went on to say that he believes it’s ‘healthy to think about death’ as it ‘puts things in perspective and reminds us what really matters’.
Ultimately, the message is: “The inevitability of death should inspire us to get busy living."
Similarly, TikTok user Yair previously visited this topic to find out what the elderly people around him also regretted, and it came as a shock to many.
Some of the most interviews were shared in a thread on Twitter, and most of them had the same answers.
One 79-year-old woman spoke about the things she'd thought were important when she was younger, stating that, while money 'makes it easier', it doesn't 'guarantee joy'.
A man shared a similar opinion as said that 'material goods' and 'more money than one really needs' are not that important.
He continued: "As a younger person I think we tend to want to make a lot of money and acquire a lot of material things, have a big house, great car, all those things and, I realized that's not what life is about."
Did you see one of your regrets here?
Britt Jones