Americans over 65 share their greatest regret [View all]

[Liberal_in_LA]

"I wish I hadn't spent so much of my life worrying."

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Pillemer launched the Legacy Project in 2004 and asked more than 1,500 Americans over 65 years of age about the most important lessons they learned over the course of their lives. In"30 Lessons for Living" he refers to his subjects as "the experts" because they hold more tried-and-true wisdom than any self-help book or pundit could possibly offer.

Pillemer writes on Quora that he had expected "big-ticket items" like affairs, bad business deals, or addiction as his experts' biggest regrets.

But over and over again he heard versions of "I would have spent less time worrying" and "I regret that I worried so much about everything."

"I found this lesson from the experts to be surprising," Pillemer writes in "30 Lessons for Living." "Given that they had lived through difficult historical periods and great personal tragedies, I thought they might endorse a certain level of worry."
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Americans-over-65-shared-their-greatest-regret-in-6515805.php