Chaplain shares the biggest regret people have on their deathbed

A hospital priest has revealed what most people's biggest regret is when they're know they're dying.

As Barbie said, 'Do you ever think about dying?' Granted, it's not a very cheery topic of conversation, particularly if you begin to start mentally listing all your life's regrets.

We all want to have 'No ragrats' - iykyk - but according to hospital chaplain Joon Park, by the time we reach our death beds, we'll more than likely have one or two.

But there's one major regret which is particularly popular among the dying, according to Park.

As a hospital chaplain at Tampa General Hospital - where he's worked for eight years - Park tells CNN his role sees him act as 'a voice and sounding board' for people who are going through trauma.

Nicknaming himself a 'therapriest,' Park claims he's been there for every single death at the hospital to help patients through the final stage of their life.

And when we all get to the final chapter of our journey on Earth, apparently there's a common regret we tend to share about how we've gone about living our lives.

Pexels/ Tima Miroshnichenko

The regret Park has heard of most frequently during his time as a hospital chaplain is about a person having done 'what everyone else wanted' in their life, opposed to what they truly wanted to do.

He explains to CNN many people realise at the end of their life they weren't 'able to fully be [them]selves in life' and had to 'hide to survive'.

Park continues: "It was not always our fault. Sometimes our resources, the systems and culture around us did not allow us to."

Pexels/ Ivan Samkov

Park tells Business Insider India that people on their death beds often 'cannot help but imagine a 'phantom life' of untapped possibility'.

"We are naturally so good at imagination, invention, and dreaming, that at times it can curve inward upon us and we imagine millions of other phantom parallel lives unlived," he explains.

In speaking to them and offering guidance during the final stage of someone's life, Park hopes to 'always [...] fully see and hear this patient, who is now finally free'.

So, to try and end on a slightly less morbid note, rather than stressing about dying and what you'll end up regretting, why not try to learn from Park's insight and from patients' most common regret? YOLO and all that.

Topics: Health, Mental Health, World News, News

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.