My first encounter with Bronnie Ware was a podcast interview about this book. It was a fascinating interview and I immediately put the book on my Christmas wish list! There are very few books that I've read cover-to-cover as quickly as this one. Bronnie spent several years working in the palliative care sector, providing mostly home-based care for the terminally ill. She tackles the subject and recounts the conversations with great care and compassion. I often found myself in tears while reading it.
Through her reflections and recollections, we also get a very personal insight into the author's struggles with low self-esteem and depression and how remembering these conversations helped her tackle them. Acknowledging this other aspect of the book, the reader must retain an open mind when reading it as it might be a bit "out there" for some. However, this is not the place to pass comment or judgment on Bronnie's decisions and lifestyle choices but to welcome the messages she shares from those facing death.
Death is an inevitable part of life. It's integral to the posts I've written about Momento Mori and trying to live with more gratitude and mindfulness. I found these conversations to be truly insightful. In some ways, it's reassuring and comforting to know that these issues are common to so many. From the things I've read about Stoicism, they are likely to have changed very little throughout history too and are all symptomatic of the human condition. The top five regrets will probably not surprise anyone.
I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself.
I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
I wish I'd stayed in touch with my friends.
I wish I had let myself be happier.
Each subject is expanded further with more subtle messages and learnings from other conversations. These "regrets" are all things we should think about more regularly. Most featured prominently when considering retirement and moving my life in a new direction. I'm not saying that I am capable of living a life with no regrets, but I am trying to live one with more gratitude, mindfulness and awareness. One that's truer to myself.
I would thoroughly recommend this book.