How are you living today to minimise your end-of-life regrets? What do you most want to NOT regret at the end of your life, and how is that affecting your choices today? To not look back in regret?
These past few weeks have seen me musing on common death bed regrets, and the implications of knowing this. This has been inspired in part by the work of Bronnie Ware.
I recently watched the funeral of a dear elderly gentleman. I commented to a friend afterwards that if even a quarter of the things said at his funeral are said at mine, I will have lived my life well.
What challenges you about how you are living just now?
We only get one shot at life. Corny I know, but true. We stand to gain so much by being clear on what is important to me TODAY in how I life my life so as to not waste any of it.
Of course, there is much in life over which we have no control. More on that here, including a really helpful visual.
And perhaps that is part of the key – am I wasting time and energy on things over which I have no control? What would my future Near-the-End-of-Life me say to Now me about that?
Themes we have covered over past weeks that are worth taking a bit of time to reflect on are:
I wish I had lived more true to myself – and less hamstrung worrying about what others think of me.
I wish I had left work at work – and had clearer boundaries and made space for more life giving activities.
I wish I had courage to express my emotions more – owned and acknowledged my emotions more and learned how to express them safely, and kept fewer grudges.
I wish I had kept in touch with my friends – and invested, valued and rejoiced in my friendships.
I wish I had taken more chances – and let fear of failure dominate less, taken myself less seriously and had more fun.
I wish I had lived more in the present moment and learned to be more content – content with who I am and what I DO have, connected to this beautiful moment that is NOW rather than stuck in the past or fearing the future; living more simply with gratitude and clarity over what really matters.
I wish I had been more confident – and believed in myself more, treated myself with more respect.
That is quite a list.
This is not to pitch you onto a guilt trip for not doing these things. Nor is this about a To-Do list of Things-To-Tick-Off before I die. But it is about awareness. Noticing what we are discontent with in our lives, and the ratio of how we spend our time versus how we WANT to be spending our time is an important first step.
Because we cannot change anything until we face it.
But once we have that awareness, we can choose to make changes. Not all at once. And not necessarily big ones. But little changes every week over time make a big difference.
If this has struck a chord with you and you identify that NOW is the time to start to make changes but you don’t know where to start or it all feels a bit daunting, get in touch for your FREE taster session. Having someone alongside as a thought partner, accountability and supportive encourager who empowers you to make the changes you want so you don’t end up with regrets – what is stopping you?
Get in touch now, I very much look forward to hearing from you.
