I recently came across a post I’d recommend everyone read – the 5 top regrets people have on their deathbed. All five points are spot on, but I wanted to touch briefly on the #4 regrets on the deathbed:
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
This is an important one. Like REALLY important. I hope no one will debate the notion that friendships are an important aspect of life. In fact, in my mind, life is all about friendships/relationships; without them, you’re stuck with just a bunch of “stuff” that really doesn’t matter.
Even though Facebook and Twitter make it easy for me to keep tabs on hundreds of people at once and skype enables me to call anyone in the world anytime at a reasonable rate, strong relationships still require in person interaction. Traveling makes that both harder for me in the fact that it takes me away from my core group of close friends in Seattle yet also easier due to the fact that it enables me to have in person time with a larger & more diverse network of people.
The challenge is keeping in touch with everyone that’s WORTH keeping in touch with (there are some people I’ve met that I would be happy never speaking to again). I’m blessed to have some truly amazing friends in my life. But there are only so many hours in a day and days in a year to spend time with everyone. It’s no surprise the lack of staying in touch with friends comes up high in a list of regrets on the deathbed because keeping in touch is hard work (and everyone always wants the easy road) — but, that said, I’m determined not to let this end up on my list.
Drew Meyers
Drew Meyers is the co-founder of Horizon & Oh Hey World. He worked for Zillow from September of 2005 to January of 2010 on the marketing team managing Zillow’s API program and various online partnerships. Founder of Geek Estate Blog, a multi-author blog focused on real estate technology for real estate professionals, and myKRO.org, a blog devoted to exploring the world of microfinance. As passionate as you get about travel.
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