(NewsSpace.com) – Many people write books to detail the things they’ve learned in their lives in the hope of passing on the lessons to others. However, nurse Bronnie Ware took a different approach. The medical professional spent eight years working in palliative care with dying people, and during that time, she became privy to a lot of information about their lives, specifically their regrets. She wrote a book to share these end-of-life confessions, and it’s an eye-opening read.
Ware’s book, “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying,” noted that there were several common themes among the patients she treated. The most common regret she encountered centered on people spending their lives catering to others, being what others wanted them to be, rather than being true to themselves. In her book, Ware writes that in order to “find peace within,” it’s necessary “to be true to our own calling, our dream and own nature.”
The second item on her list of common regrets among her patients includes working too much. She said they often regretted spending too much time at their jobs and not enough with their loved ones or spending time doing things they loved.
Expressing one’s feelings is always hard, and that’s the third confession Ware brings to readers in her book. The author said she saw lots of resentment, bitterness, and broken relationships, all caused by failing to be “vulnerable and truthful about [their] emotions.”
The final two regrets palliative patients had were failing to stay in touch with their friends and not taking the steps to be truly happy—choosing happiness over a life of negativity and limitations.
Ware said she gained inspiration for writing the book in 2009. She published an article detailing some of her patients’ final confessions and received a ton of feedback. Her book came out in 2019 and is available at several major online retailers, including Amazon and the iBookstore.
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