Here are 5 things you may regret at the end of your life, from a nurse who works with the dying.
If you had a crystal ball to see what you'd regret as you were dying, would you make changes now?
You might think watching people die would depress a person. It actually taught her how to live.
Bronnie Ware spent years as a palliative care nurse, helping patients be as comfortable as possible in the time just before their deaths. She compiled their stories and the most repeated regrets she heard them utter in their final days.
Do you ever imagine what the final years and months and days of your life will be like?
Shared originally on her blog, " Inspiration and Chai," here are the top five regrets, with quotes from her blog as she recorded them.
Regret #1: I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
Look at yourself in the mirror. Are you living your best life right now? What's stopping you?
Dreaming of living a different life than the one you have now? Image by Jorge Royan.
"This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it." — Bronnie Ware
Regret #2: I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
This one speaks for itself.
That desk looks like instant stress before the workday has even started. Image by Alan Cleaver/Flickr.
Regret #3: I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
What if getting the words out is essential to your growth as a human?
Feelings aren't just useless emotions. Expressing them can be the first step to self-actuating and becoming a newer version of yourself. Image by Garry Knight/Flickr.
"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming." — Bronnie Ware
Regret #4: I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Is there someone you treasure who you haven't spoken with in much too long?
They're so important to us and somehow we think that "life" getting in the way is a good enough reason to go without seeing them. Image by Jason Hutchens.
"Everyone misses their friends when they are dying." — Bronnie Ware
Regret #5: I wish that I had let myself be happier.
If you didn't wake up joyful today, why not? What can you do to change that?
Who was the last person you giggled ridiculously with? Call them. Right now. Image by Adina Voicu.
"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again." — Bronnie Ware
Were there any regrets on this list that felt familiar to you? Others that you didn't see listed?
These are five universal wake-up calls we all need to be reminded of. There's no shame in tagging all the friends you need to call when you share this.



A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
Gif of baby being baptized
Woman gives toddler a bath Canva


An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.