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:

11 hours ago
13 hours ago
  • Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Imagess
    11 hours ago

    Russian athletes could compete at 2028 Olympics as ban lifted, but they must abide by important rule

    The International Olympic Committee confirmed the 2023 suspension was no longer in force, only if they could stick to a historic standard

    News
  • Michael Reaves/Getty Images
    13 hours ago

    The two food items Lionel Messi has avoided for 12 years as strict diet plan revealed

    One of the world's most cherished soccer players changed his diet in 2014 after suffering from health issues

    News
  • Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
    13 hours ago

    Italian PM Meloni has bold reaction after Trump snubs her during NATO 'family photo'

    Awkward footage of the president ignoring the Italian PM has circulated online

    News
  • Getty Stock
    13 hours ago

    TSA hits out at customers using plane call buttons as flights are 'NOT the after-party'

    The Transportation Security Administration called out passenger behavior, after the FAA disclosed its figures on 'unruly' reports

    News
  • Hospice nurse shares four confessions people often make on their deathbed
  • Hospice nurse who's seen 100s of people die says everyone always says the same thing on their deathbed
  • New study shows how weight loss jabs can have surprising impact on anxiety and depression
  • WHO shares how to prevent the spread of hantavirus after three people die