unilad homepage
unilad homepage
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • World News
    • Crime
    • Health
    • Money
    • Sport
    • Travel
  • Music
  • Technology
  • Film and TV
    • News
    • DC Comics
    • Disney
    • Marvel
    • Netflix
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Chaplain shares the biggest regret people have on their deathbed
Home>News>World News
Published 17:09 24 Sep 2023 GMT+1

Chaplain shares the biggest regret people have on their deathbed

A hospital priest has revealed what most people's biggest regret is when they're know they're dying.

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover
Featured Image Credit: David Sacks/Getty / PicturePartners/Getty

Topics: Health, Mental Health, World News, News

Poppy Bilderbeck
Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a freelance journalist with words in Daily Express, Cosmopolitan UK, LADbible, UNILAD and Tyla. She is a former Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible.

Advert

Advert

Advert

A hospital priest has revealed what most people's biggest regret is when they're know they're dying.

As Barbie said, 'Do you ever think about dying?' Granted, it's not a very cheery topic of conversation, particularly if you begin to start mentally listing all your life's regrets.

We all want to have 'No ragrats' - iykyk - but according to hospital chaplain Joon Park, by the time we reach our death beds, we'll more than likely have one or two.

But there's one major regret which is particularly popular among the dying, according to Park.

Advert

As a hospital chaplain at Tampa General Hospital - where he's worked for eight years - Park tells CNN his role sees him act as 'a voice and sounding board' for people who are going through trauma.

Nicknaming himself a 'therapriest,' Park claims he's been there for every single death at the hospital to help patients through the final stage of their life.

And when we all get to the final chapter of our journey on Earth, apparently there's a common regret we tend to share about how we've gone about living our lives.

Most people Park's worked with share the same major regret while lying on their death bed.
Pexels/ Tima Miroshnichenko

The regret Park has heard of most frequently during his time as a hospital chaplain is about a person having done 'what everyone else wanted' in their life, opposed to what they truly wanted to do.

He explains to CNN many people realise at the end of their life they weren't 'able to fully be [them]selves in life' and had to 'hide to survive'.

Park continues: "It was not always our fault. Sometimes our resources, the systems and culture around us did not allow us to."

People tend to regret not having lived life more for themselves.
Pexels/ Ivan Samkov

Park tells Business Insider India that people on their death beds often 'cannot help but imagine a 'phantom life' of untapped possibility'.

"We are naturally so good at imagination, invention, and dreaming, that at times it can curve inward upon us and we imagine millions of other phantom parallel lives unlived," he explains.

In speaking to them and offering guidance during the final stage of someone's life, Park hopes to 'always [...] fully see and hear this patient, who is now finally free'.

So, to try and end on a slightly less morbid note, rather than stressing about dying and what you'll end up regretting, why not try to learn from Park's insight and from patients' most common regret? YOLO and all that.

Choose your content:

an hour ago
3 hours ago
4 hours ago
  • KMTV
    an hour ago

    Man given benefits when dad died as a teen shocked when government demands he pay $8,000 back

    Christopher Storm was 17, working at Pizza Hut and trying to get by after losing his father.

    News
  • Getty Stock Photo
    an hour ago

    One sleeping habit experts warn could actually be 'ominous sign'

    The sleeping habit has previously been seen as a good sign of sleep health

    News
  • YouTube/Arizona’s Family (3TV / CBS 5)
    3 hours ago

    Teen who had ear ripped off after flipping into pool on 'senior skip day' now suing parents who hosted

    The 18-year-old was found unconscious and floating in the pool after attempting a front flip from the roof

    News
  • Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
    4 hours ago

    Kyle Busch's wife breaks silence after NASCAR star's sudden death aged 41

    Samantha Busch has said 'the weight of this loss feels impossible to carry'

    News
  • Hospice nurse shares four confessions people often make on their deathbed
  • Inmate in El Salvador's CECOT prison says he has no regret after killing 30 people
  • Scientists share theories on why some people are 'alcohol resistant' and never get hangovers
  • Hospice nurse who's seen 100s of people die says everyone always says the same thing on their deathbed