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My "what ifs" tend to end up in culinary disaster 😂
One of my biggest what-ifs landed me in HNW!
One cannot live ones life, thinking "what if"!! What if my aunt had balls, then she'd be my uncle!! (well, way back when she would have. Now, she'd still be my aunt)
You and I both know what would happen if we do or don't!! If we do, life will go on.
If we don't, same thing will happen! Life will go on!! One day at a time, one foot infront of the other!!!
Weeelll, now .... what if the bungee cord breaks? Life might not go on! Which why I don't bungee jump.
@superbjversion2 hmmmm, an interesting question!! But, you drive!!!
@dafocker44 true but not all car accidents are deadly...at least not as often as bungee jumping accidents.
@superbjversion2 And that may be why I haven't tried that!!! I drive all the time, taking my life in my own hands!!!!
I don't play the What-If game very often anymore. I've learned to just roll with life.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The What If Road ... that has been my path through life.
@superbjversion2 There was a great comic illustration of that poem on Zen Pencils a few years back. I wonder if it's still there?
@JacksonHoleGuy I looked. It is still there. What a great piece.
The what if s in life are impt.....and its wise to consider them and maybe even plan for them. Now, if those decisions drastically change ones plans always, thats a different discussion, and could be an anxiety issue.
If im taking a long drive alone....i plan for the what ifs.
I also think the risk taking feel changes as we age. Its just good to recognize it and not have it paralyze . Every first meet is a chance we take....we gotta wear our best radar hat. ~
I try to plan for contingencies ... those what-ifs that can pop up ... especially when I travel.
First meets are a what-if world of their own but I'm not ready to give up on them.
I am willing to take chances. Cowboy is the what if anchor, LOL.
The last time I went camping, I was in an area with ticks and rattlesnakes. My coworkers laughed at me as I stocked my first aid kit with tweezers, mineral oil, and a tourniquet. What if prep!
I think we have to live along a fine line balancing the "What if" everything turned out terrible with the "What if" everything turned out awesome. If we never dream the big dreams, we sit in complacency and never find our own limits of all the wonderful things we could be. If we never consider how things could go wrong, we don't do the things we should to mitigate potential disaster. But also, we can worry about the "what ifs" and assign them much more value than they deserve. I read a book by one entrepreneur who said he spun the "worst case scenario" so that he could do a "so what" analysis...what if he started this business and it was an epic failure and he lost everything he put into it....so what - he would take the lessons learned and work for someone else until he built his savings back up and could start a new venture... I think when used in a healthy way...what if can be a valuable tool. We also have to recognize that others are often having the same insecurities and not to give them too much power.
That line of What if it does and What if it doesn't is one of life's biggest challenges, I think. Too much one way can be paralyzing and too much the other can end up being dangerous. I like to think I balance it healthily.
I try not to dwell too much on the 'what if' scenarios. I try to live in the present.
I don't think I dwell...it just seems to be part of my subconscious mind...on the positive end.
What ifs are an important part of coping with living. But as you have noted they are easy to take too far and then they can chop a lot of joy out of our lives.
Your last line "What if I don't?" is the important one. I believe a lot of people's regrets are over the times they didn't.
Hugs.
What if I don't or What if it doesn't - for me - are what I use so I don't have regrets.
@superbjversion2 Two very good questions to ask. I learned early on reading your posts that you were a wise woman.
I agree that the "what ifs" can be hampering. I try to have contingencies in mind but not let them stop me from living life.
I always try to have a Plan B for my What-ifs
That is excellent. I try to live by the same mantra. So cool you imparted it to your middle schooler back then. Took me quite a while to get to that point. I wish someone had told me something similar at an early age.
It was probably the advantage of being an older mom.
If one spends their life worrying about what if, they will never do anything.
I know a lot of people that don't do anything. I have made sure I'm not one of them.
This is a good post, I think about my what ifs of my past and the what ifs I deal with now. Not too many what ifs though. I can sometimes convince myself with a well placed "YOLO".
Next time I'm taking a half naked picture on my balcony, I'm going to shout, "YOLO!" when I'm out there.