Am I the only one who does this?

[kethlenda]

Sometimes I like to try to imagine what my life would have been like if this thing or that thing had happened differently. What would have immediately followed, and what would unfold down the line? It amuses me. And sometimes, makes me think just how well things turn out sometimes, even when you thought at some previous point that everything had

Comments

[ragdoll]

I think way too often about What Ifs, but they're rarely good ones. :-/

[ravenrain]

Oh yeah. I do this from time to time

[wherever]

I'm pretty sure everyone does this. I know I do.

[silvrdragn]

I like to think about single events or choices that, if they had not happened or happened differently, a part of my life might now be totally different. I find it interesting to find those small, seemingly innocuous things in my past that, in retrospect, were pivotal. However, I don't think there's ever any way to know what our lives would be like if things happened differently, so while I'll play with it as a fun mental exercise, I try to never let myself worry or stress over might-have-beens.

[kethlenda]

I find it interesting to find those small, seemingly innocuous things in my past that, in retrospect, were pivotal.

Yes! Exactly. I once figured out that I wouldn't have met any of the people I currently know if i hadn't done a big favor for someone I couldn't stand when I was 17. It's bizarre.

[ion_bond]

Definitely, I think this too. I was just watching the BtVS episode "The Wish," where Cordelia's wish that Buffy never came to Sunnydale is granted and everything goes to hell. There's this climactic confrontation scene between Giles and Anya where he's about to crush her power center, sending everything back to normal, and Anya taunts him, asking how he knows another world will be better than this one. Giles says "It has to be." As I watched, I couldn't help thinking that if were him, I wouldn't take the gamble.

On a related note, I read somewhere that a big percentage of spinal cord injury patients say that their lives are as good or better than before their catastrophic accidents.

I don't know if this means most of us are optimists who somehow learn to make the most of the shitty things that happen to us, or if we just can't help imagining that things could potentially be worse, or what.

[kethlenda]

I don't know if this means most of us are optimists who somehow learn to make the most of the shitty things that happen to us, or if we just can't help imagining that things could potentially be worse, or what.

That, and sometimes the things we lose...not all things, but some of them...were not as great as we thought they were at the time.

[ion_bond]

For me, it's that I know I wouldn't be who I am today without the experiences I've had. I don't think I'm perfect by any means, but I'd be scared of losing my real self if I could erase the bad stuff from my life.

I have a theory that most other people feel that way, too -- that Giles would, if he were a real person instead of a TV character.