The Two Biggest Regrets at the End of Life

We looked at hundreds of obituaries containing the keywords "biggest regret." Most peoples' regrets fell into two major categories.

Legacy.com hosts and maintains millions of obituaries each month — each the reflection of a unique life story. This series features some of the things we've learned in the process.

At the end of your life, when you look back, what will your biggest regret be? Will you wish you'd traveled more? Eaten more cake? Kicked a bad habit?

Some people have a regret so massive, thoughts of it occupy their final days. Sometimes regrets even show up in obituaries (although far more often, obits focus on life's happinesses). Still, if you search Legacy.com for the keywords biggest regret, you'll find hundreds of results.

We decided to look deeper into these "obituary regrets"— the things people regret so much, they (or their families) felt compelled to share it in that final document of their lives.