The Top 5 Hospice Regrets - Don't Let Them Be Yours

By Steve Gahagen

Bronnie Ware, a hospice nurse, spent years listening to the regrets of those nearing the end of life. Through her work, she uncovered the top five regrets people shared most often:

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

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

  3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

  4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

  5. I wish I had let myself be happier.

These confessions are powerful reminders of what we often push to the margins in our daily pursuit of achievement and survival: authenticity, relationships, joy, and emotional honesty.

Philosopher William Irvine, in his book A Guide to the Good Life, offers a chilling warning:

There is a danger that you will mislive—that despite all your activity, despite all the pleasant diversions you might have enjoyed while alive, you will end up living a bad life. There is, in other words, a danger that when you are on your deathbed, you will look back and realize that you wasted your one chance at living.

The word mislive is deeply unsettling, and rightly so. It speaks to a life where distractions overshadow purpose, where expectations silence authenticity, and where our one shot at a meaningful existence slips by unnoticed.

While discovering one’s strengths won’t eliminate every risk of regret, it is a powerful starting point. Strengths give us language for who we are. They awaken our imagination to see what’s possible and guide us toward a life that is not only productive, but deeply personal and fulfilling.

When we live from our strengths, we don’t just check off to-do lists—we begin to write a story that is unmistakably our own. We live with intention. We notice joy. We pursue relationships that matter. We choose purpose over performance.

And perhaps, in doing so, we guard ourselves from misliving

Questions to Consider:

  1. What do you think about the regrets listed above? What is behind each one?

  2. Does one resonate more with you than the others? How so?

  3. What steps can we take to improve our chances of avoiding misliving? 

BlogRachael Ingersol