[Daniel]

О чём мы жалеем перед смертью

Top Ten Event looks at things to know before you die

Make a pilgrimage, experience weightlessness, swim with the dolphins — these are the aspirations we expect from list makers dreaming about things to do before they die.

Australian palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware went deeper. For years she worked with patients at the end of their lives and listened to the wisdom acquired over decades. She recorded their life lessons, first in a blog called Inspiration and Chai and now in a recently published book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

Their regrets were not tangible. They didn’t wish they had spent a week in Paris or given away everything they didn’t need. Nor did they suggest, as Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti is said to have at the end of his life, planting a tree, writing a book, having a son.

Here are their thoughts, along with Ware’s observations:

• “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

“This was the most common regret of all.”

• “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”

“This came from every male patient I nursed.”

• “I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”

“Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming.”

• “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”

“Many had been so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years.”

• “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”

Заключение

“Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice.”