How The 5 Most Common Regrets Of The Dying Can Help You
INTRODUCTION
This will be a relatively short post today, but I hope that the discussion that can result will not be...
The subject is a bit morbid perhaps, but at the same time it can give us a base from which to evaluate where we are as a person right now and decide to make changes...
These changes will hopefully result in us having fewer regrets now and later...
I see people smile, rush through their days and years, and most have no time for serious introspection...
Only later do they take the time to reflect and....REGRET...
NOW is the time in your life to hear what people at the end of theirs have to say in this subject...This way you can work NOT to have such regrets...
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THE 5 MOST COMMON REGRETS
These are from a blog post from a website called Greatist (found at http://greatist.com/live/most-common-regrets), but there are a number of other articles and such you can find on the subject...
They will do fine for the purpose of this exercise...
Here they are...
1. 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," Ware writes. "When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made."
"All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."
"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. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."
"Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks, and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved."
"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content.”
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HOW THESE CAN HELP YOU
You are still alive right now, today, and at this moment. You have the power to make any change in your life to minimize your regrets later, and can draw up a plan and actions to take...
Whether we are thinking about our online efforts, our personal lives, or maybe a mix of the two, regret is something we all feel at one point or another (unless you are Trump)...
Realizing what your regrets are, discussing them, getting advice on how to deal with them, and then deciding what to do about them can be very helpful. It can free you to get more done and strengthen your resolve for achieving success with affiliate marketing or something else...
YOUR MISSION AT THE END OF READING THIS
OK, you have a starting point from which to do some introspection and decide for yourself what is needed. Often it is helpful to write down your regrets in some kind of forum...
The comment section below can be that forum. Add what you feel comfortable with sharing below, and let's see how we can support each other and perhaps offer some advice on directions or actions to consider taking...
CONCLUSION
The subject today is one that is not a comfortable one for many people, but it is one that is worth doing some serious soul-searching about.
We do not know how long we will be in this world...Why not resolve to make the most of whatever time you have?
I will add some of my regrets below to get things started, and all are welcome to join in/discuss...
Cheers!
Dave : )
P.S. I TOLD you this would short! : )
Recent Comments
17
I ideally endeavor to live my life with no regrets each and every moment and each and every day. Not perfectly yet humanly and authentically.
I cannot change the past. That's history. All I have now is the present which is a treasured gift to be unwrapped and appreciated and is precisely why it is called the present.
Wishes need to be implemented to action in my opinion. My current adventure of being in New Mexico is an example of living life with no regrets. Life's adventures are taken one step--and sometimes one giant leap--at a time.
Wealthy Affiliates and this community is one of my life adventures. Thanks for your thoughtful blog and thanks to each of you who shared here and who are helping me and others here. Cheers to us all! Salud!
Hi, t!
Not sure what happened, I thought I had answered this one...It has either diappeared or I lost it in one of my laptop crashes....
In any case, thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings on this rather touchy (for some) subject...
You and I are much alike in that we both live our lives in high gear, and that daily...
The regrets I have are minor in the big picture, and yes I am an optimist by nature, so this analysis fits...
I have found myself in some very hairy situations where life could have been over in the next 5 minutes, so I can appreciate each day and what it brings...
I agree with your final thoughts as well, cheers to us all!
Dave : )
Not a problem, I hope that it can nudge people that happen by this post it to have a hard look at their life and where they are, both professionally and personally...
No time like the present to get a fresh start or to refocus or to fix some areas of one's life while there is still time...Waiting until the end of your life seems like such a waste...
Cheers!
Dave : )
These days I don't tend to think in terms of regrets because I think even the mistakes we made in life were part of the journey. You go with whatever seems the best way at the time, or you get stuck into routines that feel comfortable; and confortable is fine; there's a lot to be said for confortable normality.
But having said that, if I make myself come up with some regrets, here they are:
1) I wish I had got assessed for Asperger Syndrome much earlier in life. Not being diagnosed until I was 34, that meant I missed out on specialist support I could have had when I was younger.
2) I wish I had stayed at WA when I first joined in 2009. I wish I had not abandoned internet marketing altogether in 2012. I wish I hadn't got rid of my websites. I could have stuck with it all and done something with it all.
3) I wish I had told my insane girlfriend to leave before she eventually caused so much chaos in my life.
4) I wish I had told Chris P to f*** off when he clearly overstepped the line and was behaving like an annoying bully.
5) I wish I had got rid of many unsuitable "friends" much sooner and not been such a pushover.
That's all I can think of. I don't really regret anything else. Even the "mistakes", they were the best I could do at the time, and they were part the journey of life.
Hi Marcus,
The journey of life...It is an interesting path and is different fior each of us...Regrets should be minimized I think if you are living a life where you are being true to yourself...It sounds like you are...
So it's a good thing that you have to work to think of a few....Having few now means that later when you are at the end you won't have to utter the ones above...
Regarding the few that you did dig up to add here...
I definitely hear you about the having started and then letting the online effort go for a period...
In my case I really did not think of the internet in terms of making money at all over and above an advert opp for the offline businesses...Totally missed the ramp up to what the internet is today in regards to making money off it....
On friends, since leaving the military I have had choices (you have choices while in the military, but limited due to the nature of that life)...
These days I choose to hang around positive people and ones that have had some other experiences totally unrelated to mine. There are some threads of commonality still, but generally they can provide a whole different way of looking at things...
So also few regrets (other than the ones I mentioned below)...
No idea on the Chris thing, I missed that entirely...Having limited time here, that can happen...I do wish I had more time for contributing and socializing here...
Cheers!
Dave : )
Good to see you Dave, on reflection we all have regrets , about a whole raft of things. They say hindsight is a great thing , at the time we are unaware . My thoughts are accepting that in life we all make some not so good choices at times, problems start occurring when we take those regrets with us day to day. See things for what they are, live life to the max moving forward, every day is a blessing.
Awesome post Dave, many take-homes thank you for this gem.
I think that the members here are less likely to have many regrets due to their personalities....if they were not postive action takers, or intend to be, they likely would fall away from the site....
There are some folks that have some deep-seated regrets that they carry with them to their deathbed. I feel sorry for them because just as with what we are doing here (taking action, learning new things, applying them to our lives) they can do the same...
Good to hang out here a bit, I do not have as much time as I would like to for that...Thanks for your vote of confidence and cheers!
Dave : )
This is a challenging article. I don't think in terms of regrets. I can't think of anytime I have intentionally harmed anyone so no regrets there. And, as I look back at large and small decisions and see where they have lead, I have no regrets there either. Maybe I am being naive.
I really understand where you are coming from Dr J...Most of the moves I made have been ones that I carefully thought out, and in hindsight, would possible have been more successful with a little tweaking...But in general no real huge regrets on my side either...
In general I am a positive person and try to live life in a manner where I balance work and pleasure....This was learned at a young age and reinforced by being in battle, where you were not sure if you would be alive in 5 minutes ...
Thanks for participating, and I hope this post will trigger some to assess what is really important to them so they can act to address these...
Cheers!
Dave : )
Here is a start of this tough to discuss subject...
Regrets...There are levels of regrets for me, personal, professional and relationship-wise...
In this setting I likely will only mention the professional regrets, since the focus of this website is on that (professional aspect of one's life)...
(1) There are many directions my life could have taken, and ones yet to come. Had I known back then what I know now, I could have made better decisions and prepared myself for more quickly accomplishing the things I still want to get done...
For instance...
(2) I wish that I had started 5 years earlier with online marketing because I missed out on a lot of opportunity. The saving grace here is that the end is not in sight and there is plenty still to conquer with online marketing...
This is a lesson for the younger members here....
(3) The many people I have worked with in my professional career have resulted in some great relationships/friendships, some terrible people from whom I learned what NOT to do, and those that were there to support me and I them...I would like to find a way to touch bases with them again before much longer...
Stay in touch if you really value someone in your life...
(4) I wish I had learned more languages at a younger age...I love traveling and meeting people all over the world. It makes the experience so much more fulfilling when you speak a LITTLE of the language wherever you may be. Just 200 to 300 words can make a world of difference in the experience and your memories...
Stay learning....
OK that is a start hehe, I can and will add as this gets started...
Now it is your turn!
Cheers!
Dave : )
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Great reminder of the important stuff.
Thanks, Dave
Sami
No probs at all Sami...How are you doing, it has been awhile....Cheers! Dave : )