Someone once said, "I don't regret the things I've done, I regret the things I didn't do when I had the chance."
For Emma Carey, she almost didn't get the chance to tell someone she loved how she truly felt and she now wants to make sure that you don't make the same mistake.
The 23-year old Aussie was on a backpacking trip in the Swiss Alps in June 2013 with her best friend, Jemma when she got into a freak sky-diving accident that changed her life forever. She along with the instructor crashed after a parachute malfunction which resulted in a broken back, a shattered pelvis and paralysis.
Despite all of that, all Emma could think of was not being able to go back in time and doing some things a little differently.
"There, laying on the ground, face in the dirt and an unconscious man on my back, there was nothing like that. I couldn't move my legs, I couldn't go back in time five minutes and I couldn't deny the damage. The permanency of the situation broke my heart." she wrote on her website.
The one thing Emma regretted the most was not hitting send on a text message she wrote just 24 hours earlier to her ex-boyfriend.
Click on the next page to find out what Emma's message said.
"If I die tomorrow I just wanted you to know..." those were the words Emma started the message she never sent with. To this day even, she regrets not hitting the send button.
"Flash forward 12 hours and there I am falling to the ground wondering how on earth I could have possibly felt too ashamed to tell someone I love them. Wondering how the eff I could have denied both of us such a beautiful thing. Wondering why I was only seeing one face when they say your whole life is meant to flash before your eyes." wrote Emma in an Instagram caption.
Although doctors told her she wouldn't be able to walk again, Emma has managed to beat the odds with an incredible recovery. She's been able to walk, swim and even practice yoga. She is however still haunted by that unsent text and is using her near-death experience as a reminder to always be honest about her feelings.
"It occurred to me that my entire life could have turned out differently if I had sent that text, and that knowledge haunted me for the longest time." she wrote. "Since that day, I have been completely honest with people and tell them exactly how I feel regardless of how insane I may seem. I promised myself I would do this because I know for a fact that no rejection or unrequited love could ever hurt as much as the regret of unsaid words."
She also wants everyone else to take a page out of her book and be honest with their feelings for those around them, "Tell people you love them, call someone you miss, kiss people with two hands, be unapologetically in love, catch a flight and say it to their face, press the send button on a risky text. Basically, just be brutally honest with people while you have the chance.
"Sure things might not work out the way you want them to, but oh my god, imagine if they do. What if you're both missing out on a lifetime together just because you're too afraid to press send?"
Share Emma's inspiring story & don't forget to tell someone you love them!
