Page 338 - Вишневская Виктория Юрьевна ©

ВИШНЕВСКАЯ ВИКТОРИЯ ЮРЬЕВНА ©

When you make a decision to focus on the most important things in life,
you’ll move from “woulda, coulda, shoulda” to “I lived a life worth
living” and “I made a difference.”
To get through the hardest journey, we need take only one step at a time,
but we must keep on stepping. – Chinese Proverb.
Bonnie Ware’s 2012 book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying tells us
[3]
much about living a life to minimize regrets. Ware spent many years in
palliative care (паллиативный уход), looking after patients who had
gone home to die. When she questioned these patients about any regrets
they had or anything they would do differently, a number of common
themes came up.
The five most common themes were, in descending order:
 I wish I’d had the courage to life a life true to myself, not the life
others expected of me.
 I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
 I wish I had the courage to express my feelings.
 I wish I’d stayed in touch with friends.
 I wish that I’d let myself be happier.
The most common regret, by far, was “I wish I’d had the courage to live
a life true to myself not the life others expected of me.” According to
Ware:
“Most people had not honored (почтили) even half of their dreams and
had to die knowing that it was due to choices that they made, or not made.”
These themes are similar to the ones that came through when Guardian
journalist Emma Freud asked the question on Twitter “What is your
[4]
biggest regret?”
Being held back by fear, self-blame and bad choices around love,
learning, and loss were the most frequent responses.
The most frequent regrets focused around:
 Not doing the right thing/being there when someone died
 Not speaking up
 Not pursuing higher levels of education
 Fear of following their dreams
 Unrequited or non-pursuit of love
 Self-blame around anxiety (беспокойство)
 Taking too long to make a change
Exercise 555. Fill in the blanks.
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