Commentary by Amy L. Stewart
I am not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions, personally. If they are motivating for other people, I think that’s absolutely wonderful. But for me, I’m afraid that I need to spend every day focused on living a better life, not just one — and I seem to fare better when I concern myself with who I am today, rather than who I want to be someday.
But if ever there was a list that was “New Year’s resolution worthy,” it may be the one found in the book “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing,” by Australian author Bronnie Ware. Ware worked for eight years as a palliative caregiver, and her book distills the stories, advice, wishes — and regrets — that she repeatedly heard from those whose last days she had the honor of sharing. Their final, eternal gift to us is this:
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
And according to Ware, the most common regret, among those for whom, heartbreakingly, it is too late:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
In other words, now that it’s over, I wish, after all, that I had lived my life.
Imagine how different the world would be if each of us spent our time here truly fulfilling our unique life’s purpose — if we committed to use our precious allotment of time and space, to perfect being the one person that only we can be. Imagine what the world misses, when we don’t.
For most of us, 2016 won’t be the end of the journey. But we never know for sure. Why not pretend it is and be ourselves?
