I came across this amazing article. http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html Perhaps you’ve had the fortune of reading it before me. It really puts your life into perspective when you realize that other people have already gone through their lives and had the time to make big mistakes. Big mistakes that we don’t need to end up doing ourselves.
As a palliative care worker, Bonnie Ware spent a lot of time with people who were in the last stages of their life. Surprisingly, every male patient she had nursed mentioned the same regret.
I wish I hadn’t worked so hard
I wish I hadn’t worked so hard
Every man, and some women, mentioned this same regret. Bonnie mentions that perhaps it was because there were fewer career women in the previous generation. I believe that it was only on their death beds that they realized their moments of happiness didn’t come from work, but from relationships and time spent with those close to them.
Those that dedicate themselves to work? There’s a gnawing hunger for something more, as if life isn’t yet complete. They feel guilty a little bit, for not having spent time with friends and family. And they’ll only realize it when that moment comes, when life feels dark, and they pick up the phone to call their best friend, but they pause… because they just don’t know anymore how close the both of them are. And they’ll think back on these past years. Years spent more with bosses and colleagues rather than friends and family so that now the closest person to them is the guy over in cubicle 28. Not exactly the best person to call with a problem.
Maybe… just maybe… we don’t really need to work so hard.