A carer has revealed her patients' biggest regrets, including not serving yourself and waiting for the "perfect time".
Hadley Vlahos has worked in her profession for eight years, and has revealed the "deathbed regrets" her patients have shared.
One said "you can't take it with you when you go" when talking about material objects, The Mirror reported.
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Another person said: "Stop waiting for that perfect time, start now." A third admitted they never "told people how much they loved them" and advised that they should have "spent less time at work and more time with family".
Hadley, from the US, heard a patient said: "do things for yourself, not for others."
The palliative care nurse said: "I've had a lot of people tell me they would quickly say bye to someone, and their then-spouse suddenly dies. Or it would be the last time they would speak to friends or family.
"They say that they wish they would have told people how much they loved them. How I applied that to my life is I might text a friend that I haven't seen for years and tell them that they still mean a lot to me, and I send those multiple times throughout the week."
One patient regretted not making time earlier in life to go after a career as a doctor. He told Hadley when she visited to "stop waiting for that perfect time, start now."
"That one was from a patient who had wanted to become a doctor, but never did it because of the time it would take," explained online.
She added that he was looking back on the regret, realising that eight years passed anyways.
The next regret she revealed came from a woman who spent her life trying to impress others. She said to "do things for yourself, not others."
"This woman was always concerned about what her friends thought and at the end of her life she was the only one alive and realised she didn't do what she wanted to do," recalled Hadley.
"I asked her what she wanted to do, and she didn't want to have to keep up and impress others. She said she was buying cars and houses to impress others and upgrade her lifestyle but wishes she'd just gone on trips for herself," she added.
List of regrets Hadley has been told by patients -
"You can't take it with when you go"
"Stop waiting for that perfect time, start now"
"Do things for yourself, not others"
"Spend less time at work and more time with family"
"Wish they would have told people how much they mean to them."
Hadley's book - The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments - can be bought here
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