Mark Sainsbury: We've all had regrets about things left unsaid. Don't leave it too late

Mark Sainsbury: We've all had regrets about things left unsaid. Don't leave it too late
Photo credit: Getty

OPINION: How many times have you heard or thought when someone dies: 'I wish I had said this; I wish I had made my peace with them.'

Last night I was talking to a dear friend who recently lost her sister. Like a lot of sisters, there was an intense, at times difficult, relationship but despite the standoffs and the fights and the drama, they really loved each other.

But here's the thing with death - one minute a person is alive, they are part of your world even if not in it, then in the blink of an eye it's all changed.

They're gone. What happened, how could this be - how could life exist in this state one second, then the opposite a moment later?

So as we talked about this last night, we considered how many others must face the same dilemma - unfinished business. When there are things not resolved, arguments not settled, differences still rankling.

It's true in every family - the brother and sister who never talk, the falling out that's continued from some perceived slight years ago.

How do you resolve this when one of you is no longer here? How do you come to terms with this after the other one dies?

Because it happens all the time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but sadly it is exactly that - it's only hindsight.

We've all had to deal with unfinished business, we've all been left floundering when we lost someone and never completely resolved our differences.

We all have something we wished we had said before it was too late.

Mark Sainsbury hosts the Morning Show on RadioLIVE. Call in on 0800 844 747