The Ultimate Top 10 Lists

Top 10 Things People Wish For

We all have dreams and wishes and these vary incredibly from person to person. Some of us dream of being famous rock stars, some of us dream of going into space, while others of us wish to one day be on the cover of Men’s Health magazine.

While we all have our own specific goals though, there are also many dreams and wishes that are common to the majority of us. These are the top 10 things people wish for, and these are the things that bring many of us together – largely we seem to just want the same things.

Here then we will look at the top 10 things people wish for, and some of these you may find yourself wishing for right now.

10 Good Health

We all wish for good health, but for some this is a more pressing matter than others. Those of us who have good health of course will wish that it continues, and we’ll wish the same for our friends and family. For those of us who don’t have good health however, who are maybe disabled or terminally ill, this is likely to become an all-consuming wish. It’s then that you realise just how important good health is – don’t take it for granted.

Top 10 Things People Wish For – Good Health

9 Money

Money it seems is something we can never get enough of. Those living below the poverty line for instance would count this at the top of the top 10 things people wish for, and life would surely be much easier for them if they had the resources to afford the things they wanted and they needed.

But what makes this really one of the top ten things people wish for is the fact that even those of us who have enough money still end up wishing for more. Dreaming of being incredibly rich, living in a mansion, going on lavish holidays and wearing the nicest clothes are things many of us have in common.

Top 10 Things People Wish For – Money

8 The Fundamentals

By the fundamentals I mean the basic requirements we all need to survive. Maybe it doesn’t cross your mind much, but just like health you will find it’s all you wish for when you don’t have access to food, shelter or medical treatment. Millions of people in developing countries wish for these basics and for them other concerns like fame seem completely unimportant.

Top 10 Things People Wish For – Fundamentals

7 Love

If you have ever lost someone you love, then you will know just how hard this makes you wish for them to come back or just for the opportunity to see them again. Likewise the broken hearted will often wish hard for their loved ones to come back to them and to rekindle their romance. Then there are those of us who love from afar and who wish we could be noticed and our love wouldn’t go unrequited, and those of us who have yet to meet that special someone and dream of that chance encounter. Love is something we all wish for, but it’s also very complicated even once you have it.

Top 10 Things People Wish For – Love

6 To Change Ourselves

It’s a sad statement, but one of the top 10 things people wish for is definitely the ability to change something about themselves. Whether that means wishing they were more talented, more confident or more attractive, many people suffer with low self-esteem and think that their life would get better if only they were born differently. What’s important to realise though is that you have all the tools you need just as you are – it’s about learning to use them.

Top 10 Things People Wish For – Change Ourselves

5 Fame

If you ask people what their dreams involve, then a lot of them will include fame in some shape or form. Whether we want to be famous rock stars, famous movie stars or just famous for the sake of being famous, it seems that many people hold fame as the potential answer to their problems and a great aim to set their sights on.

Top 10 Things People Wish For – Fame

4 Sex

About every teenage boy in the world spends 90% of his time wishing for sex. One of the big reasons people wish for fame is because they think it will give them better access to sex. Married men and women often wish for more sex or better sex, and if Freud or evolutionary psychology are to be believed then everything we do is really just a convoluted way of ensuring we get to have sex.

Top 10 Things People Wish For – Sex

3 Peace

If you are to believe the winners of Miss World competitions the world over, then world peace is definitely one of the top ten things people wish for. While these beautiful winners may just be saying what they want people to hear though, ask anyone who has ever fought in a war or lived in a war zone and they’ll definitely tell you that they dream of peace.

Top 10 Things People Wish For – Peace

2 Freedom

This is again something you probably don’t give much thought to, but those who have been denied their freedom and basic human rights will certainly know just how important freedom is and will wish hard to get theirs back – whether that’s someone in jail or someone living in an autocratic society.

Top 10 Things People Wish For – Freedom

1 Happiness

Ultimately we wish for all these things, but they are all a means to a basic end. We want all these things because we want to be happy – even if sometimes our wishing is misguided. Parents want nothing more than for their children to be happy, and even if you have no money and no fame you will still find yourself content if you can find a way to be happy.