It's interesting to note that people regret things they didn't do, not things they did (like mistakes they made).
Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed
21–30 of 54 posts
Re: Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed
#22[deleted]
I think that #2 should be read more as "I wish I didn't allow work to keep me from doing what I really wanted to do".
Are you using work as a tool to do what you love? Great. Allowing it to hold you back from your passions? You have a problem.
Re: Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed
#23I would be far more interested in: Top regrets of generally successful people on their deathbed. I don't read people magazine for life tips, I read HN.
I'm pretty sure #2 about working harder is probably a common regret of successful people. Though it depends on what you define as successful, I assume since this is Hacker News the definition of success here is probably something along the lines of starting a successful business.
Re: Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed
#24I was expecting something like "I wish I had worked harder" as opposed to what I found in the article - "I wish I didn’t work so hard". In a way, that’s actually relieving. Perhaps, I am too alive to think that way.
Most people do not spend a lot of time doing what they are passionate about; e.g. even if you like programming, buckling down for a solid 5 hours to get that widget to work across all four browsers isn't particularly satisfying. Absent economic imperatives, one probably wouldn't look back on a lifetime of that (or worse) as being optimal.
Re: Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed
#25I watched someone close to me die over several months. Her only regret seemed to be that she was dying. I don't believe this list of top 5 regrets is based on research at all. I suspect that it is mostly only in TV, movies, or novels where a person on their deathbed contemplates things they would have done differently. Usually the impending death overwhelms all other thoughts.
I'm more inclined to trust the anecdotes of a palliative care nurse with years and years of intimate experience with the dying than your single anecdote from a single perimortem friend.
The post made plain it was based on anecdata, not research. Did you read the preamble or just skip right to the numbered list?
Re: Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed
#26I watched someone close to me die over several months. Her only regret seemed to be that she was dying. I don't believe this list of top 5 regrets is based on research at all. I suspect that it is mostly only in TV, movies, or novels where a person on their deathbed contemplates things they would have done differently. Usually the impending death overwhelms all other thoughts.
I think this also depends on age and mental state. For instance, my grandmother who was old and frail, but had a happy life. In her last few years she often mentioned that she was ready to die. She'd also talk often about the past.
If death is unexpected, and cuts through all plans and expectations without regards, it's hard to reconcile with death.
Such posts often remind me how important it is to live in the moment (and how hard to attain ;)).
Re: Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed
#27[deleted]
Why can't they be opposed? All the regrets don't come from the same person.
Also, there's no rule that says they have to make sense. Regrets that people have on their death-bed are not necessarily imbued with a supernatural clarity.
Re: Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed
#28I'd like to say that I'm surprised by the lack of introspection and thoughtfulness that I'm reading in these comments, but instead I'm just disappointed.
Perhaps most people here are just too busy living in the hubristic stage of their life to imagine that there's anything to be gained by occasionally listening to the wisdom of those who've gone before us.
Re: Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed
#29[deleted]
When you poll opinions of a number of people, the opinions often turn out to be logically incompatible with each other. For example, when you define "popular" opinions as ones that are shared by at least 10% of the population, you can have a situation such as when the opinions that "the government should increase spending on A, B, C" and that "the government should reduce taxes" simultaneously meet the popularity threshold.
Re: Top 5 Regrets People Make on their Deathbed
#30I watched someone close to me die over several months. Her only regret seemed to be that she was dying. I don't believe this list of top 5 regrets is based on research at all. I suspect that it is mostly only in TV, movies, or novels where a person on their deathbed contemplates things they would have done differently. Usually the impending death overwhelms all other thoughts.
Yep, my mother was perfectly happy with the way she'd lived her life but did wish she hadn't smoked for 30 years (she died of cancer).