Top five regrets of the dying - poll

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A nurse has recorded the most common regrets of the dying, and among the top ones is 'I wish I hadn't worked so hard'. What would your biggest regret be if this was your last day of life?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying?CMP=twt_gu

Poll Results

OptionVotes
I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 18
I wish that I had let myself be happier. 16
I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. 9
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. 8
I wish I hadn't worked so hard. 2


Flag post? I hardly knew her! (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 2 February 2012 11:53 (twelve years ago) link

none apply, maybe if there was an option for 'earned more and kept the weight under control'

flags post o fu (darraghmac), Thursday, 2 February 2012 12:01 (twelve years ago) link

Yeah I forgot to add 'other' :-/

Flag post? I hardly knew her! (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 2 February 2012 12:03 (twelve years ago) link

This year I did a really long set of New Year's Resolutions and caught all of these in some form, except that I decided I need to work a bit harder instead. (also, the friends one I decided wasn't important enough to make it)

'true to yourself' is probably the most important, but it's hard to work out what that is

Ismael Klata, Thursday, 2 February 2012 12:07 (twelve years ago) link

Yeah, I don't think these apply to me too much. "Got my rear in gear and stopped making easy excuses for myself" might be one.

Sounds Of The Baskervilles (dog latin), Thursday, 2 February 2012 12:15 (twelve years ago) link

Yeah, "I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends" surprises me a bit (xp)

Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 2 February 2012 12:16 (twelve years ago) link

1st option - because it in some way touches on all the other four.

insert 2012 appropriate display name here (snoball), Thursday, 2 February 2012 12:18 (twelve years ago) link

None of the above. Hey dying people, don't sweat it, you'll be dead soon.

Jeff, Thursday, 2 February 2012 12:56 (twelve years ago) link

I wish that I had let myself be happier.

onimo, Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:03 (twelve years ago) link

Spending too much time on ILX

Phibes Kartel (NickB), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:07 (twelve years ago) link

Bummer if that was your last words though

Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:08 (twelve years ago) link

xp 'Didn't exceed Ned's number of posts.'

insert 2012 appropriate display name here (snoball), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:14 (twelve years ago) link

― non, je ned raggette rien (Drugs A. Money), Monday, January 30, 2012 5:24 PM (49 minutes ago)

Phibes Kartel (NickB), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:16 (twelve years ago) link

I wish I wasn't dying.

thomasintrouble, Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:19 (twelve years ago) link

how do i work less \o_O/

dave cool, Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:21 (twelve years ago) link

Where's the one about wishing you'd had more sex?

Matt DC, Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:23 (twelve years ago) link

It's covered by the bottom three.

Michael Jones, Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:27 (twelve years ago) link

LOL

wolf kabob (ENBB), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:30 (twelve years ago) link

'courage to express my feelings' e.g. you are pissing me off, dickhole, and here's why

Wub wub wub wubwubwubwub wub Pzzzzzzz WUBB wubwub (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:37 (twelve years ago) link

I will have all of these.

ENERGY FOOD (en i see kay), Thursday, 2 February 2012 14:11 (twelve years ago) link

I will probably have 1,4, and 5.

wolf kabob (ENBB), Thursday, 2 February 2012 14:12 (twelve years ago) link

my guiding life philosophy, such as it is, is to ensure i don't have any of these regrets

#lazy

first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Thursday, 2 February 2012 14:18 (twelve years ago) link

I wish I'd shouted something at Jamie Oliver that time I saw him at a service station

dayove cool (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 2 February 2012 14:19 (twelve years ago) link

"I wish I didn't keep losing me birds"

Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 2 February 2012 14:19 (twelve years ago) link

xp "I LOVE YOUR WORK! ESPECIALLY THE CHEEKY MOCKNEY ACCENT!"

insert 2012 appropriate display name here (snoball), Thursday, 2 February 2012 14:20 (twelve years ago) link

I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is the obv one.

dead-trius (Eric H.), Thursday, 2 February 2012 14:21 (twelve years ago) link

tho, tbh, I'm sure "I wish that others had let myself be happier" is a piece of that puzzle too.

dead-trius (Eric H.), Thursday, 2 February 2012 14:21 (twelve years ago) link

my chief regret on dying will probably be that i'm dying, and don't get to eat or do fun stuff no more

"renegade" gnome (remy bean), Thursday, 2 February 2012 14:36 (twelve years ago) link

"I wish I didn't keep losing me birds"

Then learn to swim, young man, learn to swim.

Michael Jones, Thursday, 2 February 2012 15:19 (twelve years ago) link

by jove it's right long-winded that number 1 spot IMHO.

yeah definitley surprising there isn't more stuff about sex. that's what John Betjeman said his number 1 regret was in a film on bbc once; he hadn't had enough.

piscesx, Thursday, 2 February 2012 15:20 (twelve years ago) link

Fry & Laurie...

http://youtu.be/nnmpn_PzvW8

Michael Jones, Thursday, 2 February 2012 15:33 (twelve years ago) link

Then learn to swim, young man, learn to swim.

... bit late for that now, I'm on me bleedin' deathbed, en' I?

Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 2 February 2012 15:37 (twelve years ago) link

"Letting yourself me happier" sounds kind of like a self-con, phrased that way. You are who you are; if your POV allows you a certain measure of happiness, I don't think putting some smiley-face masquerade on is necessarily healthy.

Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 February 2012 15:40 (twelve years ago) link

I know that the Romans came after the Greeks;
I went to a lecture to hear Robert Hughes speak -
I am honoured, cultured, literate - and yet
All of my life I've had one main regret.

I wish I'd slept with more girls;
I wish I'd had more sex;
I wish my wife had'a sucked my dick.

They told me the yobbos would turn out no good -
I did my homework, they turned into hoods -
I have a family. I am happy and proud.
I said no to anything I wasn't allowed.

I wish I'd done more drugs;
I wish I'd snorted coke;
I wish I had taken the risk.

The Angel of Death hovers overhead.
My family, come, gather 'round the bed;
Come my colleagues, come literate friends.
Here is my last wish, as my life ends.

I wish you'd written my books;
I wish you'd married my wife;
I wish you owned my home;

I wish my thoughts were yours;
I wish my life weren't mine;
I wish you'd never known me at all;

I wish you'd take my place;
I wish it were you lying here;
I wish you'd all get fucked.

Franz Kappa (S-), Thursday, 2 February 2012 15:44 (twelve years ago) link

None apply so far. Get back to me when I'm dying.

Aimless, Thursday, 2 February 2012 18:58 (twelve years ago) link

My grandfather is very close to death. It is so hard to watch him die. :-(

Nathalie (stevienixed), Thursday, 2 February 2012 19:35 (twelve years ago) link

Living is a hard habit to break, but the very act of dying often brings its own reasons for embracing death. When the moment comes, your grandfather may experience it as a blessing.

Aimless, Thursday, 2 February 2012 19:43 (twelve years ago) link

S- just won the thread AND the entire internet

Wub wub wub wubwubwubwub wub Pzzzzzzz WUBB wubwub (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 2 February 2012 19:55 (twelve years ago) link

Fry & Laurie...

http://youtu.be/nnmpn_PzvW8

― Michael Jones, Friday, 3 February 2012 02:33 (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is also vital viewing, get to it ilxarz

Wub wub wub wubwubwubwub wub Pzzzzzzz WUBB wubwub (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 2 February 2012 20:01 (twelve years ago) link

"I wish my deathbed regret wasn't going to be turned into a shitty self-help book by someone whose website is called Inspiration and Chai."

Suede - the fabric, not the band (DL), Thursday, 2 February 2012 20:08 (twelve years ago) link

I wish that I had let myself be happier.

thanks for the tip, dying person! *pats head condescendingly*

flopson, Thursday, 2 February 2012 20:28 (twelve years ago) link

"I wish I had listened to Bobby McFerrin"

flopson, Thursday, 2 February 2012 20:31 (twelve years ago) link

"I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends" is honestly by far my answer

lana del rey: everythang's workin' (some dude), Thursday, 2 February 2012 20:47 (twelve years ago) link

"Letting yourself me happier" sounds kind of like a self-con, phrased that way. You are who you are; if your POV allows you a certain measure of happiness, I don't think putting some smiley-face masquerade on is necessarily healthy.

That you believe people should be as miserable as you has been duly noted.

dead-trius (Eric H.), Thursday, 2 February 2012 20:59 (twelve years ago) link

I wish I hadn't read that Mitch Albom book that one time. And also the next one he wrote. I didn't read any of the others tho because fool me once shame on me fool me twice well u don't get fooled again.

Mordy, Thursday, 2 February 2012 21:03 (twelve years ago) link

loving the gallows-ish humour in this thread.

piscesx, Thursday, 2 February 2012 21:14 (twelve years ago) link

"I should have gotten that perm."

Darin, Thursday, 2 February 2012 21:18 (twelve years ago) link

I wish you'd take my place;
I wish it were you lying here;
I wish you'd all get fucked.

Hahah this HAS to be a TISM song.

thanks to denial, I'm immortal! (Trayce), Friday, 3 February 2012 00:33 (twelve years ago) link

y

Wub wub wub wubwubwubwub wub Pzzzzzzz WUBB wubwub (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 3 February 2012 00:37 (twelve years ago) link

tism otm

flagsteban postez (electricsound), Friday, 3 February 2012 00:45 (twelve years ago) link

lmao lamp

flopson, Friday, 3 February 2012 01:02 (twelve years ago) link

"I wish I had listened to Bobby McFerrin"

This needs to be written NOW!

Mark G, Friday, 3 February 2012 09:52 (twelve years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Wednesday, 8 February 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link

"I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends" is honestly by far my answer

Little GTFO (contenderizer), Wednesday, 8 February 2012 00:07 (twelve years ago) link

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

this might be the closest, but then when i think about it, the constraints i have are self-imposed, and it's difficult to tell if they come from expectations or from what i actually think is the right thing to do.

Z S, Wednesday, 8 February 2012 00:17 (twelve years ago) link

"I wish that I had let myself be happier" sounds a little silly at first, but I think that it's actually very profound

dell (del), Wednesday, 8 February 2012 00:29 (twelve years ago) link

"I wish that I had let myself be happier" sounds a little silly at first, but I think that it's actually very profound

Ware's commentary on this is painfully OTM:

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise 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, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again

Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Wednesday, 8 February 2012 03:06 (twelve years ago) link

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

i.e. I wish I had lived in a utopian society where I could do whatever I liked, or I wish I had been incredibly rich and could do whatever I liked.

The New Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 8 February 2012 12:44 (twelve years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Thursday, 9 February 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link

dv otm

Dying ppl- lacking necessary critical distance imo, tho a positive font of hallmarkian inspiration

Dr Frogbius (darraghmac), Thursday, 9 February 2012 00:03 (twelve years ago) link

If someone has the time to ask me I think mine would be "I wish I'd have died quicker"

sleepingbag, Thursday, 9 February 2012 00:08 (twelve years ago) link

'too much time answering pollsters' *dies*

Dr Frogbius (darraghmac), Thursday, 9 February 2012 00:12 (twelve years ago) link

'should never have agreed to manage the english side'

mookieproof, Thursday, 9 February 2012 00:15 (twelve years ago) link

otm

Dr Frogbius (darraghmac), Thursday, 9 February 2012 00:16 (twelve years ago) link

I wish I hadn't worked so hard. 2 / 53

lol slackers

once a weak eye sample (onimo), Thursday, 9 February 2012 00:56 (twelve years ago) link


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