"The 5 Regrets of the Dying" - Number 2

"I wish I didn`t work so hard"

Here is the second major regret recorded by Bronnie Ware  an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives:-

"This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence. 

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle." 

The question we need to answer is, are we also on the "treadmill of a work existence"? The sad truth is that most people are. Many people I meet are stuck in a rut, doing a job they don`t like with people they don`t care about while all the time wishing they could be doing something else. The old saying still holds true - no one on their death bed ever says, "I wish I`d spent more time at the office."

Don`t we owe it to ourselves to step back occasionally and re-evaluate what we are doing and why we are doing it? Of course it`s not easy, nobody said it was. It`s not about doing what is easy - it`s about doing what`s important. Why not take the time out to sit down and write down your top 5 values. What are the 5 things you value the most in life? What do you stand for? What do you believe in? What would you fight for and maybe die for? 

Those are your core values and as such are fundamental to your motivation in life. We do or don`t do things based upon what is important to us. Most people have never asked themselves what drives them, what`s really important to them. The truth is, you can never truly be happy with who you are or what you do if you are not living a life in alignment with your true values. Those who bitterly regretted working so hard did so because they felt what they were doing was essentially pointless. 

Are you engaged in something that you fundamentally love, that gives you meaning and purpose in life? If not, is it worth considering what really is important to you and pursuing that regardless of what people might think? Many successful people were laughed at and criticised at the beginning.....