What if?

What if things had been different?  There is a great segway in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun where the main character says “Any little change along the way and I would be somewhere else.  I would be different.” The camera pans across her writing desk which holds mementos from her life’s journey from misery and divorce to family and happiness.  And it’s true.  Any one choice or happenstance can send you in another direction.  You path is built every day of every step you take.

I was talking with my sister recently about the past.  About our family and the logistics of how we have all come to be who we are.  We were looking at it and saying “what if?”  What if this hadn’t happened?  What if this had?  Who would we be?  What would our lives look like?  Better?  Worse?  Definitely different.  It does make you think.  Just look at your life.  What is the parents had stayed together or broken apart?  What if you had stayed with this one, had gotten married or not?  What if you had taken that trip…or not.  Stayed in school…run away to live your dreams?  What if you had gone on to further education?  What if you had given it all up and walked away.  What if you had follow the path you wanted?  What if you had listened to the advice of others?

It is true of human nature that ‘the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’.  We will always want what seems better than that which we already have.  However, it is wise to look at what you have and consider how you got there and check into “What if?” it can help you appreciate yourself a bit more and what you already have on hand.  Because while it could have been better it also could have been much, MUCH worse….