After years working in palliative care, nurse Bronnie Ware noticed a pattern in what her patients said during their final weeks of life. In her book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing, she documents the five themes that came up most often — from unlived dreams to friendships left to fade.
In brief
- —Bronnie Ware cared for patients in their last 3 to 12 weeks of life
- —Most patients regretted not honoring even half their dreams
- —Fear of change was the main barrier to happiness, Ware observed
Three to twelve weeks at the bedside — how Ware gathered her findings
Bronnie Ware spent most of her career in palliative care, accompanying patients who had returned home to die. “I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives,” she writes in her book, describing those shared moments as “incredibly special times.”
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