Top five regrets of the dying
Dec 5th 2012, 2:11 pm
#31
Bored liberal
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: Over there ----->
Posts: 13,713
Re: Top five regrets of the dying
We've all made mistakes and treated a few folk badly. As long as we try and be better people that's normal. I do that partly by having as little as possible to do with people who annoy me, let me down or are generally undeserving of my time. If I am no longer in touch with people, it is mostly for good reasons.
As for work, we all have to do it and few of us are doing exactly what we want, but I am lucky enough to have been able to branch out into a few different areas. I mostly enjoy what I do, which is not flogging savings plans, but helping people plan their financial lives. It's surprising how much of what I do becomes life coaching and general hand holding. It's very satisfying to deal with people over many years (up to 15 for some of my clients - which is not what the cold-calling sales bunch do), be involved in their lives and know they are on the right track for a comfortable future. The writing on the side is stimulating and the preserve making is a bit of a creative outlet.
Anyway, I like being busy and I don't really answer to anyone, which is great. I do lots of things which make me happy, but I have learnt that they aren't generally the big, expensive things.
Once you learn to take joy in the small things, refuse to let most people have the power to annoy you and realise that you can't change the world, but can improve it in small ways every day, I reckon you are on the way to being really happy.
As for work, we all have to do it and few of us are doing exactly what we want, but I am lucky enough to have been able to branch out into a few different areas. I mostly enjoy what I do, which is not flogging savings plans, but helping people plan their financial lives. It's surprising how much of what I do becomes life coaching and general hand holding. It's very satisfying to deal with people over many years (up to 15 for some of my clients - which is not what the cold-calling sales bunch do), be involved in their lives and know they are on the right track for a comfortable future. The writing on the side is stimulating and the preserve making is a bit of a creative outlet.
Anyway, I like being busy and I don't really answer to anyone, which is great. I do lots of things which make me happy, but I have learnt that they aren't generally the big, expensive things.
Once you learn to take joy in the small things, refuse to let most people have the power to annoy you and realise that you can't change the world, but can improve it in small ways every day, I reckon you are on the way to being really happy.
Dec 5th 2012, 3:21 pm
#32
Confirmed grumpy old man
Joined: May 2005
Location: Moved back to Riyadh KSA 2016
Posts: 1,298
Re: Top five regrets of the dying
Interesting article from the "horses mouth" in the Guardian about the top five regrets of the dying, namely:
a. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. Dealing with a bit of conflict in the short term in order to do what you really want in the long term is a good investment of time and emotional effort
b. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.Not so much worked so hard, more like find a job to enjoy so working hard was a bit more motivating and rewarding in the long term
c. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. .. and sometimes hide them too! I wished I had the courage to say what I really felt and thought instead of delaying it or putting it off - until it got a bit too late
d. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.I wished I'd invested more time and more of myself in my friends - kept a good core of close friends..... close
e. I wish that I had let myself be happier. Perhaps if letters a. to d. were in place, e. would happen anyway.
a. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. Dealing with a bit of conflict in the short term in order to do what you really want in the long term is a good investment of time and emotional effort
b. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.Not so much worked so hard, more like find a job to enjoy so working hard was a bit more motivating and rewarding in the long term
c. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. .. and sometimes hide them too! I wished I had the courage to say what I really felt and thought instead of delaying it or putting it off - until it got a bit too late
d. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.I wished I'd invested more time and more of myself in my friends - kept a good core of close friends..... close
e. I wish that I had let myself be happier. Perhaps if letters a. to d. were in place, e. would happen anyway.
